Siblings
by Tenth Man Down
Summary: This story begins after all the members of Dtent have returned to where they lived before. All, except one. He is going to live with a new family. But one very special person does definitely not agree to this... chappy SIX up! Please R&R!
1. Chapter 1

**Siblings**

by Tenth Man Down

This story begins after all the members of D-tent have left CGL and returned to where they used to live before. All, except one. He is going to live with a new family - but there is one person who does definitely not agree with this.

Disclaimer: I don't own Holes or the characters from the book.

A/N: Oh. My. God. I finally got my lazy ass moving to write down this fic (It's my first one btw)! Please don't mind if the chapters are a bit short, coz I did the first three ones handwrittenly (!), means that they looked a lot longer than they really are... sighs heavily

Okay, I'm not going to annoy you any more...on to the story...

**Capter One - Birthday Surprise**

As the champagne glass hit the marble floor of the parlor, the shattering sound hardly reached my ears. I forced myself to close my mouth, staring at my parents who were sitting on a sofa in front of me.

'Why are they looking at me like they expect me to jump up and dance around?' I asked myself. After what they had just told me! Well, they could wait for _that _eternally.

"Darling, are you hurt?" My mother had jumped up and started collecting the remains of the glass.

"N- no..." I answered lamely, "It's just...why didn't you talk to me earlier?"

Both my parents looked slightly uncomfortable now. My mother continued collecting the glass shatters without even looking at me. At least my father had the courage to answer me.

"Well ... we thought of it as a nice - birthday surprise, you know, girlie?" he said.

I stared at him blankly, until something they had told me years ago came to my mind.

"But, mother, I thought, you couldn't have babies anymore." I said, glimpsing at her. After I was born, the doctors had told her she would never again be able to give birth to a child.

She managed to recover the smile on her pretty face.

"I'm not pregnant, Ean-girlie."

_HUH_?

My gaze fell onto my father.

"Is he, then?" I asked. Althought I meant it as a joke, the lack of humor in my voice made it sound like a reproach.

My father seemed to be slightly impatient now.

"None of us is pregnant. We have decided on adopting a child."

Decided.

_Decided_!

"Have you ever even considered asking me?" I asked sharply, getting up, "I'm a part of this family, too, you know!"

"Oh Darling...we were surprised ourselves that everything went so well and that he can come to live with us so soon. We would have told you earlier, but we got the good news only last week." my mother tried to explain.

"Yeah, that is, of course, a _good _reason for not talking to me before making a final decision on that topic!" I hissed acidly.

"Darling, we really thought it would make you happy to hear-..."

"Do I look _happy_?" I yelled.

There was no response. My parents were, again, sitting on the sofa, now holding each other's hand with desperate faces.

"Ean...girlie..." my father started weakly, but I was too furious to let him finish his sentence.

"Stop calling me girlie and treating me like a five-year-old! You could have seriously asked if I wanted a younger brother! I mean...I turned eighteen today, I'm old enough to have children, to have a job, to marry, and, believe it or not, I have an own opinion ... and when I'm at home it's, like, Oh no, girlie, don't do that, it's dangerous. and We have decided to do this and that. Why should we ask _you_? . That's just frustrating!" I didn't know why I was bursting out like this. Usually, I stayed extremely calm, showing emotion so seldomly that there had already been rumours at school about me being an evil roboter.

"Besides... what do you mean with so soon ?" I said, trying to calm myself down.

"We can go and pick him up on June 7." my father answered hesitantly.

_June 7_ ! But... "That's only one week from today!" I gasped, "Why didn't you tell me last week, when you got the news!"

Again, my father was the one to answer me "As we already said, we thought it as a nice birthday present. Besides the car, I mean."

Yes, the car. A wonderful, dark blue P.T. Cruiser by Chrysler. As I thought of it, my mood rose slighty.

Then, suddenly, it occured to me that the little boy would be most likely to paint my beautiful car with his wax crayons or fingerpaints or whatever six-year-old boys use to destroy their older sisters' possessions. The nasty expression returned to my face.

'Bravo dear parents!' I thought sarcastically 'So, what's my birthday present for next year? A third grandma? A collection of aunts and uncles?'

"And where is that brat supposed to sleep?" I asked, at the same moment noticing the dumbness of the question.

"As there are more than seventy rooms in this house, I think it will be the least difficult job to find one for him." my father said, fighting a chuckle that came up his throat.

"That's not funny!" I hissed at him. For me it absolutely wasn't. "It's totally irresponsible of you to adopt a child when you can't even take good care of it, because most of your time you aren't at home! It's irresponsible and selfish! Just look at how much you left me alone, and what that made of me!"

At this point my father interrupted me "Exactly. We left you alone too much, and don't you think we're proud of it! See, you spend most of your time alone, although you really needn't to. You read those dusty old books, listen to that weird music, at school you had no friends - don't look at me like that, I talked to your teacher - and it's only three weeks now, since you spend a night in jail because you got drunk and nearly killed that boy with a broken bottle!"

"He tried something! I had the right to beat the crap out of him!"

My mother stared at me, shocked, while my father only glared at me reproachfully. Then he continued speaking.

"Whatever. We are of the opinion that having a brother will do you some good. That is the main reason for the adoption."

_Excuse me?_

"Don't make me laugh!" I shot back, "_You_ are the ones who can't have own children anymore 'though you want some, _you _are the ones who needed a heir for your oh-so-successful-international-stock-broking-company after I told you that I don't want it, and now you come and say you did it for _me_? Do you seriously think that I believe this story!"

I spat the words out at my parents, not caring whether or not they hurt them.

"Go on, adopt that child, have fum playing happy-little-family but don't expect me to come and join!" I said, storming out of the parlor.

Slamming the oak door of my bedroom shut behind me, I sunk dowm on my four-poster-bed, panting heavily with fury. Reacting like this wasn't typical for me, but I found it so unfair of them to soil the evening of my eighteenth birthday. I felt like going back down to the parlor and smashing some windows...

'No Ean, calm down...' I thought, staring out of the window onto the forest that surrounded our mansion, '...keep the distance, stay cool, don't let it touch you...'.

In my mind I kept repeating the words until I felt that most of the fury had gone. I got up and went through the bedroom, over to my bathroom.

About twenty minutes later I stepped out of the shower and glanced at my reflection in the bathroom mirror.Driplets of water were running down my slender body, causing goosebumps to appear on my very pale skin. Due to the wet, my hip-long, straight hair seeed to be of an even darker shade of purple. Originally, it used to be blond, like my mothers, but during the last years I had it dyed black, wine-red, dark green and dark blue. But the eggplant-like shade of purple I wore it now brought out the pale gray of my eyes, making them look almost light green.

I brushed my teeth and waited until my fresh black nail polish dried, then I went to bed.

During the following days my parents were, as usual, busy with work, so I had loads of time for strolling around in the forest with a book, a bottle of water and a sandwich.

Sometimes I only returned to the house because it got dark outside. The temperatures were rising quickly and I knew that soon my parents would insist on moving to our summer home, which wasn't as huge as our regular home but had a lake with a landing stage belonging to it. Because of that lake, I liked staying there. I loved swimming and, honestly, to me there is nothing like feeling the cool water streaming past my body.

But of course we couldn't go there before the brat had arrived.

End of first chapter

A/N: Mwahahahahaha! The first chapter is finished! And if you're reading this then propably you have read it...if so; REVIEW! Pleeeeeeaaasies!

Yeah, I know there's no "Holes"-character in this chappy, but I want him to appear in the second chapter... Guess who it is! grin


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Hey you folks! Second chapter is up! This chappy is dedicated to Usagi of Feudal Moon Era, and Anime Girl23 who were, in fact, my first reviewers.

In this chappy there is going to be a flashback introducing Ean's character and behaviour a bit further, aaaand finally 'the brat' will arrive! Have fun and review, please!

(Oh, and btw, the main character is a girl named Ean - seems like I didn't point that out clearly enough in the first chappy...)

Disclaimer: I don't own Holes or the characters from this wonderful book. (But I do own Ean... yay for Ean! XD)

* * *

**Chapter Two - The brat**

"What? What did you say where you are going?" I asked my mother. She was sitting in our BMW limousine, next to my father. "Didn't you say you'd pick him up on June 7? I mean, I don't know if the happiness about having a son soon somehow toasted your brains...but it's only June 6 today..."

My mother smiled at me, obviously being relieved that I talked to her again (as punishment, I had been ignoring my parents the past few days).

"We know it's June 6 today, but the distance between the orphanage and our home isn't exactly short, and the boy needs some new clothes, of course."

I grimaced, " So you're going to take him to one of your exhausting shopping tours, huh?"

She didn't get a chance to reply, because my father started the motor.

"Exactly. Means, we'll return either late at night or tomorrow morning, in case we sleep in a hotel." he said, looking at his watch. "Time to go. See you later, Ean!"

I rolled my eyes heavenwards. 'See you later' was one of the phrases I'd never miss.

After the car had disappeared behind some trees I went back into the house, where the cleansing powers of a house-cleaning-company had already started their work.

Although we were absurdly rich we didn't have maids nor a butler to keep the house clean. Mother said, she couldn't stand the thought of a complete stranger spending the entire day in her home. But of course our house needed to be cleaned, so my parents had hired this company to do a complete house-cleaning once a week.

I went to the kitchen to have breakfast and to read the newspaper. After I had done my washing-up, I returned to my room, got dressed and then started packing my bags for the stay at our summer home.

I owned a car, so why shouldn't I leave immediately after welcoming the brat? I was already looking forward to spending some days alone, without my family, just swimming and reading.

With a deadly grimace I thought that, if the brat came pestering me, I'd come and pester him so much that his remains would fit into an envelope...

As every week, I refused to let the company clean my room (I hated to leave my rubbish behind for other people to clean it up) and went into the garage to put the full bag into my car.

Despite a phone call from my mother ("We're fine, darling! But we don't know whether we can be back today...") the rest of the day went on pretty uneventful, and so I went to bed earlier than usual (means, around 1 a.m. instead of 2 p.m.).

In the middle of the night I jumped up from sleep, convinced of having heard some noise. But as I looked out of the window and then walked around the house a bit, everything was quiet.

"Maybe my crazy father is right and I'm alone too often. I'm starting to hallucinate..." I mumbled to myself as I got back to bed. But I simply couldn't fall asleep again because my fathers words from a few days ago kept me thinking: '...at school you had no friends...'

Due to my exceptional skills, I had already passed the final exams with the best results possible and two months earlier than my classmates. My success at school, as well as my off-putting behaviour kept them on avoiding to get in touch with me, which I approved very much. It felt good not to be annoyed neither by dull guys trying something, nor by brainless teenage girls to whom wearing the latest fashion was more important than their education.

Not that I would give a damn on our ineffective educational system. Ever since I was twelve I had been trying to convince my parents to pay a private teacher, so I could work at full speed, without having to wait for all the dummies in my class.

But now I was finished with school and going to spend one year in total freedom, not studying at college, but doing whatever Iliked (which especially included travelling to Europe). One year without stupid people around me who were asking stupid questions...

'Nah, don't think of your silly ex-classmates, that'll only keep you awake...' I thought, but couldn't keep my mind from drifting back to my first day at the new school, two years ago.

- Flashback -

A sixteen-year-old Ean with dark blue hair, dressed in a black jeans skirt and a black shirt silently enters a classroom that is crowded by teenage guys wearing expensive poloshirts, and teenage girls in skirts that are too short to be anything but sluttish. She walks to the back of the classroom, towards the only empty desk. The other students are chatting noisily, and not even the arrival of the class teacher Ms Faulkner can calm them down. Then the bell rings and, finally, all students sit down and the last conversations stop.

Ms Faulkner steps in front of the class with a wide and welcoming smile spread across her face.

"Good morning my dear students! I hope you have all had nice summer holidays, but of course I'm also happy to have all of you back, so we can spend the coming two years together!"

Ms Faulkner really seems to be excited and happy, but most of the students don't even listen to her. Ean stares at Ms Faulkner blankly, trying to figure out whether or not her new teacher has smoked some weed.

"And I have a very nice announcement to make: A new student has joined our class and will stay with us for the rest of your time at school!", Ms Faulkner says, gesturing merrily into Ean's direction.

The entire class turns around surprisedly to have a look at 'the new student' (Remember? They didn't notice her entering the room.). Some of the girls start chatting quietly at the sight if her blue hair.

"Please, darling, come in front!" Ms Faulkner says, giving Ean an inviting smile.

Ean grimaces at the word 'darling', but gets up quickly and walks towards the blackboard with wide steps. Once arrived, she stands still, giving her teacher the blank stare again.

It takes Ms Faulkner ten second of expectating silence to notice that Ean won't start talking all by herself.

"Why don't you introduce yourself to your new classmates?" she asks.

Ean seems to be seriously annoyed now.

"First: Because you only asked me to come in front, and Second: Because you're the one who's paid for talking, not me. But if you so desperately want me to talk-...", she turns to the class, "..My name is Ean, I'm sixteen years old and _obviously_ your new classmate."

With a last furious glare at her teacher she rushes back to her seat and sits down.

"Hey, isn't 'Ian' a boys' name?" one of the poloshirt-guys asks her across the the classroom.

"It's '_Ean_' with _'E'_, genius." Ean snaps back.

"Hey, come on, that's not a name. Tell us your real name" Mr. Poloshirt says with a wide grin.

"Ean doesn't say anything, but instead rolls her eyes heavenwards.

"Come on, Eeeeaaan...!" Mr. Poloshirt's grin grows wider.

Ean takes out a sheet of paper, scribbles something down on it and then throws it at Mr. Poloshirt.

"There you are, genius. If you're able to _correctly_ pronounce my full name - wich I highly doubt - you may read it aloud to thje entire class." she says with a deadly expression, "Otherwise, means, if you're not able to read it aloud, you will never, ever, again annoy me with your stupid questions."

At this claim the entire class, including Ms Faulkner falls silents with shock. Into the silence Mr Poloshirt mumbles, trying to figure out how the name is pronounced.

"Ea-... Ia-...john...okay, the second one is easy: _Alexis_, but...hey! Your last name is Ravenstone? Like _Ravenstone_ _Inc_. ?"

Ean has been waiting for that question: "Yes, very well spotted, genius. And before you ask; Yes, Alicia and James Ravenstone are my parents, but I don't want to talk about that. And by the way, my name is Eadaion Alexis Ninor Ravenstone."

Mr Poloshirt pretends being disappointed. "Ooooh, that was mean. Now I may nevermore ask you a question..." he says, grinning sheepishly at his friends.

"That's just what I was aiming on..." she mutters under her breath. "Fine, now that you know my name you can leave me alone." she says aloud, obviously disgruntled about having to talk to Mr. Hey! Poloshirt for more than two seconds.

Meanwhile, Ms Faulkner has regained language: "Ead-... Alexis..."

"The name's Ean."

"Okay, Ean darling, it's okay if you don't like Eugene, but at least we all want to behave politely, don't we?"

Mr. Eugene Hey! Poloshirt smirks smugly.

"Please, darling, try to say it again politely!" (A/N: Welcome to kindergarden!)

Ean glares at Ms Faulkner, who gives her a supporting smile, and then looks at Eugene. Her words are coming out loud and clearly:

"Leave me the fuck alone, you son of a bitch. PLEASE!"

- end of flashback -

I couldn't suppress a small satisfied grin as I lay in the darkness. From that day on nobody had ever again annoyed me (despite my parents who seemed to have a talent for it). The fact my father didn't see, was that I didn't _want_ any of the dumbheads as friend.

With this thought I fell asleep.

Later that morning I got up at 8 a.m. and went directly to the kitchen. The house was still extremely quiet, but anyways I didn't expect my parents and the little brat to arrive before 10 a.m..

As I dragged my feet past one of the mirrors in the corridor I gave my reflection a grumpy and sleepy glance, which it returned from under a curtain of dishevellled, purple hair. The black summer pj only completed the stuffy-she-goth-look.

In front of the kitchen door I froze at the rattling of dishes and the noise of the coffee machine coming from the room.

'What the hell...?' was my only thought as I bent down and peeped through the keyhole. But I couldn't see what was going on inside.

Then, suddenly I noticed that I was behaving like a scared old lady. Obviously my parents had returned earlier than I had been expecting it, and now they didn't want to wake me up.

So I walked into the kitchen as on every normal day, only to find myself confronted with someone I'd never met before. For the second time in the last two minutes I froze.

The guy was wearing a pair of short pj trousers and a somehow worn-out-looking, gray t-shirt. His face and forearms were incredibly tanned, which didn't quite match his blond hair and blue eyes. He stared at me in surprise, his mouth standing open a little bit.

'Oh my...' I thought. This guy had been causing the noise last night! He broke into our house! He was a squatter!

Quicker than lightning I grabbed the biggist kitchen knife I could find and pointed it at him threateningly.

"Who are you, and what are you doing in my kitchen? Huh?" I growled, not seriously expecting an answer but waiting for him to turn around and flee.

To my surprise he didn't run off. Instead, an amused grin spread across his face.

"Hi, I'm Ricky, and - as you can see - I'm preparing the breakfast for Mom and Dad. You want some, too?"

It took me five seconds of staring at him until I realized something that nearly made me drop the knife.

"Are _you_...the brat?" I gasped in disbelief.

That moment, my father entered the kitchen. "Ricky, are you alr- ..." he caught sight of me and my knife and started laughing so hardly his face turned red.

"Ean now you're overreacting! We all know you're not a morning person, but that doesn't mean you may kill your brother!" he said, still chuckling, and carefully took the knife away from me.

_The brat was a bloody teenager!_

* * *

A/N: Nanananana...(singing cheerily) so it's Ziggy! (big beam here). Sorry to all the Squid and Magnet fans out there but he's just my fav... But back to Ean - she's kind of an aggressive bitch, isn't she? (chuckles) I love that! And btw, my apologies to Hecate's Diamon (author of 'Rebel'), for my chosing May 31rst as Ean's birthday. I did that before reading your fic, means, I didn't want to copy you or something...

Reviews please... I wanna know whether or not people like the story. Constructive criticism will be accepted, of course! .


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Nanananana ... back again with chapter three! Seems like people like the story... that's nice! It's also a lot of fun to write it :) Sorry I haven't updated so long, but I didn't like the way this chapter turned out and so I rewrote the biggest part of it. That's what took me so long. Hope you can forgive me (pleading smile here).

I'd like to dedicate this chapter to all my reviewers. Special thanks to Usagi of Feudal Moon Era, narutorules03, and xblondexloserx.

Very special thanks to Frosted-Windows for actually criticising the story a bit. That encouraged me to tighten up the plot!

**Disclaimer**: I don't Holes or any of the characters from that wonderful novel. (snif) Louis Sachar does. Btw., did you know that he plays that half-bold man named Mr. Collingwood (or whatever the name was) in the movie? (Remember? That guy whose wife is told by Onion-Sam to rub onion juice on her husband's head so his hair would grow?) I noticed it today, and was totally stunned.

**Chapter three - The idea of the year**

During breakfast I couldn't help but giving Ricky sidelong glances, which he returned with his ever-so-amused grin. My parents- ... no: _our _parents were chatting lightheartedly about business, the weather, the shopping mall they had visited, and so on... until finally they did what they seemed to have been waiting for the entire morning: they turned to Ricky and gave him their most dazzling smiles. "So Ricky, how was your first night?" my mother asked.

The boy swallowed a sip of coffee and smiled back. "Well, Mom, not very long, but the bed is way more comfy than the one in the orphanage, and I slept very well, thanks."

My mother was practically radiating happiness, and my father read the newspaper with his 'I-just-finished-the-deal-of-the-century'-grin. My mothers voice was dripping with sweetness as she said "Oh...I still can't quite believe that you're a part of this family now..."

"I'm speechless, too..." I muttered under my breath, taking a sip of coffee. But the Ricky-boy heard me and gave me 'the grin' again.

"So you're Ean." he said, "Mom and Dad have told me so much about you."

I gave my parents an evil glare, trying to figure out what the hell they had told him about me. "_Did _they?"

Suddenly, like following a command only they could hear, my parents grinned at each other and got up in the same second.

"We are so terribly sorry..." my father said with regret that was so obviously fake that I had to fight the urge to throw my cup at him, "...but international business doesn't wait."

"We'll be back for dinner, of course." my mother added, giving first Ricky, and then me a quick kiss onto the forehead. "Ean my darling, would you mind preparing something nice? That's my good girl!"

And off they went, leaving a furious me and an amused Ricky behind

For the next five minutes I continued staring into the void, occasionally taking sips of my coffee. But how shall I ignore a person who keeps on constantly grinning at me?

"Would you mind telling me what's so fucking funny?" I hissed angrily.

"I'm counting the seconds 'til you set the table on fire with your glare." Uuuh ... so the guy thought he was funny!

"And that's your reason for annoying me with your constant grinning?"

"Nah, it's just funny to watch you radiate grumpiness." The guy didn't only think he was funny, he also had the wish to die young!

"Well, then you're easily amused." I shot back.

"If you say so." _Gosh_, did he always have to have the last word?

After breakfast, I got up immediately because I wanted to put on some decent clothes. The Ricky-boy got up, too, and followed me through the corridor. I turned around at him abruptly, "Don't you have anything else to do but following me?" I said.

He seemed to be honestly surprised, "I'm not following you! I'm on the way to my bedroom!"

"Yeah, of course!"

"Really! 'Up to the second floor, turn right and walk down the corridor. Your room is the fourth one on the right side.' That's just exactly what Dad said when he told me where to sleep!"

"But that's imp-... wait, did you say 'the fourth room'?"

"Yeah."

"Uh huh..." Well, I didn't know that my parents were so deceitful. They had given him the bedroom next to mine!

'I think I need to talk to my _dear _parents...' I thought as I climbed up the stairs, the Ricky-boy always behind me.

"Hey, you've got the bedroom next to mine!" he exclaimed as I opened my door.

"What you don't say!" I yelled and slammed the door shut behind me, making the mirror and windows tremble.

I had just finished brushing my teeth and dressing up in a long, loose, dark red skirt and a black tank top, as I heard a knock at the door. "Ean? You in there?" ... Ricky. Of course. The door opened slightly and his head with all the frizzy hair on it popped into the room. "Nice room you got here. May I come in?"

"No, you may n-..." I tried to say, but he had already entered.

"I was wondering if...uhm... if you could help me with unpacking my clothes?" he said, looking slightly embarassed. I glared at him disapprovingly.

"You're sixteen years old. Can't you do that by yourself?"

"Well... Mom insisted on buying _everything _I tried on and ...err...there isn't enough space to stowe all the clothes away."

I sighed heavily and walked over to the door. "You're lucky I wasn't reading."

"Why?"

"Because it takes a book weeks to fester out of a face."

He glimpsed at me and then started laughing. "You definitely _are _the grumpiest girl I've ever met."

His room was a total mess. 'At least it matches his hair.' I thought as I looked around. Clothes were spread all across the place, a small bureau was overflowing with t-shirts and boxershorts, and the bedclothes were completely rumpled. Half-empty shopping-bags and an empty suitcase were bunched together on a pile next to his bed.

"In the changing room there is plenty of space." I said, glaring at him.

He gave me a heavily confused look. "In the _what_?"

'Ooookay Ean, don't jump at his throat... he cannot know it...' I thought, struggling not to whack his head. With quick steps I walked to a hidden door in the corner of the room, opened it, and stepped into the chamber behind. "This..." I said, pointing at the empty shelves and hangers and the huge mirror, "...is a changing room, genius."

"Whoa, what the heck... you mean, I've got an _entire _room only for my _clothes_?"

"That's just exactly right. Now put your things in here, and, for God's sake, empty the bloody bureau!" With these words I went back into my room. 'That task should keep him busy for some time.' I thought, sitting down on my bed with a book about the Punic Wars.

It took the boy two hours to do what I had told him. Then, there was the knock at the door again. "Ean? I'm finished. Wanna have a look?". An image appeared in my head, of me giving him a cracker, and saying 'Datta good boy.' while patting his messy head.

"No I don't!" I yelled.

"Why not?"

"Beacuse it's not my room, and I'm not interested anyways!" I said, reconcentrating on my lecture and believing that I had made my point clear.

Well, to Ricky it obviously wasn't clear enough: "Then why did you help me?" he asked.

I didn't reply, hoping that my remaining silent would show him how _much _I wanted to talk to him any longer.There was a short silence, and I was already convinced of him having left for something that was more interesting than waiting for an answer that would never come. Well, I was wrong.

"Ean? Are you dead?" he said, and then his worried face popped into the room again. I didn't even make efforts to glare at him, but simply groaned in annoyance.

"Oh good, you're okay." he smiled at me, and casually came over to my bed to sit down on the edge of it. "Watcha readin' ?"

"A book." I said matter-of-factly.

" 'bout what?"

'Why doesn't the prat just read the title?" I asked myself, still not looking at him. There was an uncomfortable silence as I kept on reading and he kept on staring at me curiously. After two minutes, it was me who broke the silence. "Is there a third arm coming out of my head, or what?" I said, throwing my book down onto my lap.

"Nah, I'm just trying to talk to you." he said, and, for once, his face was serious.

"Why? Because you want it, or because my-... our parents asked you to try and get me talking?" With this question I caught him. He had, at least, the decency to blush a bit.

"Errr... well, okay, they asked me to..."

"Then let me tell you that this is not going to work. Momentarily I'm way more interested in the Punic Wars than in this little conversation." I picked my book up again, "Seems, like you have to find someone else on who's nerves you can get.". He blinked, but didn't move.

"Goodbye." I said, meaningfully looking at the door.

Like in trance, he rose and slowly left the room. and I sighed with relief. Then, the door opened _again_.

"Ean? What am I supposed to _do _in this house?" Mr. Let's-Annoy-Ean asked.

"... whatever you like. As long as you don't annoy me."

"Am I annoying you right now?"

" ... "

He grinned evilly - and here I have to admit that he did _indeed _look a bit scary "Is there a TV in the livingroom?"

"Of course." God, how stupid was that kid? But at least he finally turned around and went whizzing off to watch TV. I was ready to open a bottle of champagne.

I didn't see him for almost the rest of the day, which I was very grateful for. But around seven p.m. the unavoidable happened...

"Ean? Are you _still _in your room?"

" ... yes."

"Didn't Mom ask you to prepare something for dinner?"

"Maybe..."

"Aren't you going down to the kitchen?"

"What am I? My mother's cook?" I shot back angrily. "I didn't even say yes when she asked me!"

"Then just do it because it would make her happy." Seriously, how stupid _and _naive was this kid? If he wanted to make her happy, _he _could go to the kitchen!

"Do it yourself." I said, turning around a page in my book.

"But..."

"See, I don't want to do it, I'm not hungry and I have no interest in a family gathering around the table! Okay? So just cook the fucking food yourself!"

Ricky's head popped into the room and he stared at me, completely stunned. Then something in his face changed and he gave me that evil, frightening grin again. "I think that you are going to help me."

"Oh really? Why so?"

"Because ..." he jumped into the room, over to my bed, and snatched my book away from me, "...now you lost your apology for not doin' it!" and he held my book up into the air triumphantly, still grinning like a maniac. I couldn't lhelp but thinking how immature teenage boys could be sometimes. I glared at him.

"Oh please, you're sixteen years old, don't you-..."

"No, I'm not."

"What?"

"Sixteen. I'm seventeen, turning eighteen next month. Are you going to help me now? I mean, actually it's _your _job to make the food." Fine. He had won. Before the immature Mr. Let's-Annoy-Ean was able to annoy me to death I got up with a heavy sigh and dragged my feet towards the kitchen.

He was a horrible cook. Maybe he was able to prepare breakfast, with toast and eggs and bacon, but _that was it_. I asked him to peel potatoes and he kept on constantly cutting his fingers. I asked him to put the potatoes (which I had to peel in the end) into the boiling water, and what did he do? He dropped them into the pot, making the hot liquid splatter on his hands. I swear, I never want to hear him scream like that again.

Finally, I told him to clean and cut the broccoli, reconcentrating on the meat I was frying in a pan. Everything seemed to go fine, there were no 'ouch!'es or 'ah, my finger!'es coming from his direction anymore and I believed that he had finally learnt how to not amputate his finger with a kitchen knife, until I turned around. I couldn't even say something, because I was so shocked about what he had done to the broccoli. He turned around to find me staring wide-eyed at what he had produced. "See, I can do it! Now where are the other pots?". I didn't answer, still staring at the green ... mess on the chopping board. "Ean? Where are the pots? ... Hello? Ean?"

I finally regained language. "What ... is _that_?" I asked, pointing at the broccoli-battlefield.

"Broccoli?"

"What did you do to the vegetable?"

"I cleaned and cut it, like you said. See? I cut off the buds and then chopped the stalk into little pieces, so we can boil them."

"Uhm... usually, you boil the buds, and throw away most of the stalk." I said, talking to him as if he was a particularly slow person.

" ... "

" ... "

"Why didn't you tell me before?" he whined, now also looking on the remains of the broccoli.

"Because I didn't think that a nearly-eighteen-year-old wouldn't know what part of a broccoli is to be eaten, and which part is not." I said calmly, trying to put as much of 'You are the biggest idiot _ever_.' as I could into the sentence. "Well, seems, like we'll have green beans instead."

"Oh please, no beans! I'm so overfed with beans!" he said, giving me a desperate look.

"Fine, carrots then. But _I'll _make them."

" 'kay."

To say that our parents were positively surprised by the food would be the understatement of the year. I simply rolled my eyes and remained silent as my mother hugged the two of us (means, Ricky and me) saying that she found it 'wonderful' how great we seemed to get along, for we had produced such a nice meal.

Get along! As if. He had been annoying me since he didn't have anything else to do anymore, and I really had wanted to threaten him with the kitchen knife again, just so he would shut up. But now we all sat around the table, with our plates full of food in front of us.

"Oh this is really delicious!" my mother exclaimed as she tasted the first bite. "I didn't know you were such a good cook, Ean!"

"See? You're making her happy." Ricky whispered to me. I decided on ignoring him.

"So my little darlings, what did the two of you do during this whole long day, huh?" my mother asked in her sweetest happy-family-voice, which always made me want to make her shut up with the help of some glue.

"I unpacked my things, and then I went watching TV." Ricky said, chewing on a piece of carrot. I said nothing.

"Didn't Ean show you around?"my father asked, sending me a sharp look.

"Nuh uh." Ricky replied, giving me a curious glance. "Was she supposed to?"

"Yes, she was."

"Well, my dear father, this is the first time I hear that I was to show him around." I said, giving my father an icy glare. He returned it, lowering his fork. Then, my mother rose her voice, trying to keep us from starting a discussion. "Let's not fight over that topic. I think Ean wouldn't mind to show Ricky around the house tomorrow, would you, my love?"

"Actually, I _would _mind it." I said matter-of-factly. My parents and 'brother' stared at me. I continued eating indifferently, ignoring their dumbstruck faces. Then my father spoke again.

"Ean, you are _not _going to ignore your brother anymore! Otherwise..."

"What? I won't get cookies for one week? Oh, I'm so terrified!"

"...otherwise, this summer there will be no stay at the lake for you.". I dropped my fork, staring at my father who looked rather angry now.

"Don't you think, you're exaggerating now?" I asked, trying to make clear to him how much he was overreacting. "You know how much spending the summer there means to me."

"Yes, I do. And that's why you will show Ricky around the house tomorrow. And you are going to spend time with him, got that?"

"You can't force me to spend time with him!" I exclaimed, getting up. My mother took hold hold of my elbow and pulled me back down onto my chair. I glared at my father furiously. "You simply cannot."

"Ean, it seems to me like you forgot that we are your parents. So stop being so arrogant and listen to me." my father said calmly. I just glared at him. "It is important that you two..." he looked at me and Ricky, "...get used to each other, otherwise there would have been no point in adopting Ricky."

I looked at my parents. "What about you?" I asked, "As you just stated, you are our parents, so why don't you spend some time with him?". Ricky shifted on his chair uncomfortably, as if something was bothering him. Then he blurted out "Dad, Ean, please stop arguing. See, I'm fine on my own."

My father wasn't convinced. "But it's not good that Ean stays on her own all day." he said, speaking to no one in particular. "She really should have some company. And stop being so selfish."

"I'm neither selfish, nor do I need or even _want _company." I said. I had had this discussion with my parents way too often, and it started getting on my nerves.

"But it's not good for you! Don't you see that you are turning into somewhat kind of a sociopath? And-..."

"..and I am afraid..." I said cooly, getting up slowly, "...that this is not a topic to be discussed right in front of the boy.". I turned around and left for my room, leaving my stunned family behind. A sociopath? Good heavens, my parents were seriously overreacting now. And I felt that later this evening a curious Ricky would come knocking on my door.

But as the evening went on, no one tried to talk to me, and I fell asleep with my book resting on my chest.

The next morning I dressed up before going down to the kitchen, so I wouldn't stand in front of Ricky in my revealing pj again. After all, he was still a teenage boy! When I walked into the kitchen I found my mother and him, preparing breakfast together, obviously having fun while doing so. I rolled my eyes and snatched the newspaper from my father's hands. "Hey!" he exclaimed, but as he looked up and saw me, a warm smile appeared on his face. "Good morning, Ean. So you finally decided on joining us, my little sociopath, huh?"

I ignored him, disappearing behind the newspaper. He pulled the upper margin of it down and smirked at the sight of my annoyed face, as I tried to withdraw the thing from his grip. "You might at least say 'Good morning'. I don't think we spoiled you so much you didn't know that."

"Good morning, _family_." I said sarcastically, and finally got my father's hands off the paper. My mother chuckled. "Are you coming, my little sociopath? It's toast and mixed fruit salad for breakfast." And the three of them went into the dining room, my mother carrying a full tablet. I groaned and got up. It seemed like they were trying to cheer me up and test me by calling me 'my little sociopath'. Oh, how _extremely _funny they were sometimes! A I sat down at the table, the bad mood that had been lying on the family like a dark cloud yesterday, occured to have disappeared completely. My mother was quietly exchanging jokes with Ricky, and my father sat there, watching them giggle with a smile on his face. Then, all by sudden and unexpectedly he snatched the newspaper from my hands, hiding it behind his back. "So, Ean. Today you're going to show Ricky around, huh? Maybe you should take some sandwiches with you, just in case the two of you get lost.". He and my mother grinned at each other and I sent them angry glances. Whenever possible, they would warm up the old story of how once I got lost in the huge house as a small child. And they had just did it again.

"Well, seems so." I said, and they looked at me in surprise. Obviously they had been expecting me to protest. But I was tired of this game (anyways, I didn't like playing games very much), and had decided on my way down to the kitchen, that my father, trying to keep me from going to our summer home, would be worse than showing the boy the most important rooms in the house. Doing so would also have a positive side result: Immediately after finishing the tour, I'd be able to grab my car keys and leave for the house at the lake. Alone.

We finished breakfast and I headed for the kitchen door. "If you still want the tour, you should get your ass moving. Now." I said, looking at Ricky expectantly, and he got up and hurried after me.

Showing him around wasn't so bad after all. He appeared to have learned that I wasn't keen on conversation, and so most of the tour passed by in silence. Then, just as we walked past the library (yes, we had one of those cliché home libraries), he gave me his curious look again. "Are you _really _turning into a sociopath?" he asked, eyeing me with interest.

"Hell, no!" I snapped, "They're just making this up to make me get in contact with more people. What they don't realise is that I _do _get in contact with people. From time to time. When I feel like it. But they just won't know it, because they're never at home." I wasn't able to banish a faint trace of bitterness from my voice.

"Means, you're one of those rich kids whose parents don't ever know what they do, because most of the time they're on business trips?" he said, "Well, that really sucks. But at least _you _won't turn into a criminal, just to catch their attention, right? See, to me you don't make the impression of even _wanting _their attention.". He smiled at me knowingly, but I didn't reply to him. How came he had figured that out within one day? He hadn't been knowing me for more than twentyfour hours, and already understood me better than my parents did.

I looked at him. "Playing the psychologist now, are we?" I said, trying to cover up the awkwardness that was rising in me.

"Nah, I'm not. Whoa! How _big _is this fireplace?" he said, storming into the library and observing the huge sandstone fireplace. Well, he was obviously easily distracted.

We spent the rest of the tour in silence. He didn't ask me any more questions concerning me and my parents, and so I didn't have to get rude. About twenty minutes later, we arrived back at the kitchen. My parents were still in there, chatting quietly. As we entered the room, they sent us their most dazzling smiles, and I got ready for another attack on my sanity.

"My little sweethearts!" my mother began, and I let out a short snort. My mother was way smaller than Ricky and me, actually, she was the smallest person in the family. "Your Dad and I just had a great idea!" '_Oh no_.' I thought, '_Whatever they have made up, I bet I won't like it.'. _"What about the two of you going to our summer home, and Dad and I will follow, like, one week later?" my mother said, still smiling,. "And Ricky can invite some friends, if he likes, so it won't get boring."

I felt my face fall. One week with Ricky and probably some of his dumb teenage friends? No way I'd survive this without killing someone or at least making some one cry. Ricky, on the other hand, was beaming at my mother like I had never seen him beam before. "You mean, I can actually invite them to stay with me for one week?". He seemed to be completely over the moon. I couldn't help but snap at him: "Isn't _that _what she just said, genius?"

My father grinned at me, looking slightly impish. "I'm sure, Ean, that they won't annoy you all too much. I bet, Ricky hasn't seen his friends in a while and so they'll be busy with themselves. Ricky?" he said, catching the boy's attention. He gave him a sheet of paper. I could see that there was the schedule of a Greyhound bus station printed on it, one, that wasn't very far away from our summer home. "Listen, here's what you do. You call your friends, and get those of them who want to come to take a Greyhound bus to _this _station..." he pointed at the address on the paper, "Tell them, we'll order a mini bus to pick them up and drive them to our house. Try to make them arrive all together, so it will be easier to pick them up. But not more than ten people, okay? Good. Now go and call them."

Ricky stared at the sheet of paper, and then beamed at my parents for one more moment before whizzing out of the room. I could hear him start running in the corridor.

"What do you _think _you are doing, huh?" I snapped at my parents, "You promised me that I would get the house for that one week. _Alone_!"

"Actually, we didn't promise you anything, concerning that house. We only said, you'd maybe have to spend a week or two alone, because we'll be doing our anual business trip to Dubai." my father said calmly. "It won't kill you to have some people of your age around you. Plus, it will help Ricky to get over the extreme change in his life and to get used to having a normal family again. You still remember that he's an orphan, right?". My father looked very serious as he said so.

"Well, you didn't tell me anything about his past until now, so it's the first time I get to hear this. But I'm not stupid, okay? I know that children who live in an orphanage are most likely to be orphans." I hissed angrily.

"Ean!" my mother yelled and I noticed what I'd just said. But I was still fuming with anger about my spoiled holiday, and therefore had not been able to avoid being rude. '_Nah, Ean, don't overreact_.' I mentally told myself. I didn't shout at people very often, because I found it rather primitive. '_It's only one week, and then the mob will be gone and your parents will be there to keep the boy busy with their stupid ideas.'. _"Okay." I said, and my parents eyed me astonishedly, obviously having been waiting for another attack. "I'll take that boy to our summer home, and I'll even accept having those..._kids _there. But only for _one _week!". Saying so, I turned around and left the kitchen, heading for the library. I wanted to get some books I could take with me, so I'd be able to flee from Ricky's gang whenever possible.

When I walked past Ricky's room, the door swung open, barely missing me. "Keep your bloody eyes open, boy!" I snapped at him, but he just beamed at me.

"They can all come, Ean! That's so cool! Do you think June 10, around eleven a.m. will be okay?"

"Yeah..." I said slowly, "I think so. But then we'll have to leave tomorrow, so we can buy some food before they arrive." I said, but Ricky's smile turned into a serious expression suddenly.

"Uhm ... Ean, is it _okay _for you that my friends will be there?" he asked, and I looked at him in surprise. I wouldn't have thought that my wellfare bothered him at all.

"I'll be fine. As long as they don't annoy me." I said, "Now go and tell them stupid parents the date so they can order that mini bus, or whatever they have planned to do."

Ricky smiled at me, but, as usual, I didn't return the smile. "I want you to pack your things _today_, so tomorrow we can leave immediately after having breakfast. Got that?" I yelled after him, as he went off to talk to our parents. "Oh God." I mumbled to myself as I closed my door behind me some seconds later, "This is going to be _fun_..."

In the evening I tried to spend some time with my family, but it became nearly unbearable for me to stay in the same room as Ricky. He was extremely excited and wouldn't stop jiggling around and beaming whenever someone talked to him, so after awhile he simply got on my nerves, which was the main reason for my withdrawing from the livingroom and going straight to bed. Ricky didn't have a license yet, and so it was my job to drive all the way to the lake. The ride would be most likely to take some hours, which meant that I really needed to get some sleep that night, imagining a car accident to be a bigger holiday-spoiler than a bunch of teenagers.

The next morning my alarm clock woke me up at 6 a.m.. I got up immediately, brushed my teeth and put on some comfortable clothes. Then I went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast and make some sandwiches as provisions. I found my father's credit card on the kitchen counter, a note lying next to it. _Good morning Ean! We knew that you would be most likely to get up and leave very early, so we decided on saying goodbye on this way. Here's one of Dad's credit cards, so you can pay for food and other things you'll probabaly need. We hope you, Ricky, and his friends will have a wonderful time together, and we look forward to joining you soon. Love, Mom and Dad_

_PS.: Give Ricky a hug from Mom._

As if! I was definitely _not _going to hug him! But I _was _going to wake him up now. I went back up to the second floor, and cautiously knocked at his door. No response. Of course not. Anyways, I hadn't been expecting him to be up at twenty past six in the morning, so I just slipped into the room. Although the sun as already up in the sky, the insides of the room were all dark, for he slept with curtains closed. All I could clearly see in the darkness was the shape of a huge bag next to the bed in which Ricky was lying, deep asleep. At least I guessed so, for the only part of him that was visible was his messy hair. The rest was buried under his blankets.

I staggered towards the window and ripped the curtains open, yelling: "Rise and shine, sleepy head! It's time for breakfast!". I admit that I would have slapped myself for this waking-up method, but at least it worked. He groaned and turned around in his bed. "...five more minutes, Squid..." he mumbled.

"What? Are you calling me a _squid_? Get up before I go and get a bucket of cold water!" I said, pulling his blankets away from him.

"What the ... _Ean_? What are you doing in my room?" he stared at me, his hair sticking out in all directions.

"I am trying convince you to get up. Breakfast's waiting in the kitchen. Get dressed and take your bag with you when you come down." I commanded, and staggered out of his room, towards the kitchen. Ten minutes later I heard him drop the bag in front of the kitchen door, and then he came shuffling in, yawning at me widely.

"What time is it?" he asked, sitting down in front of a pile of toast slices with jam, and a cup of coffee.

"Six thirty."

"What?" he dropped the slice of toast he had just grabbed, and stared at me. "Are you trying to kill me? Why'd you wake me up at _six thirty_?"

"Because I don't want to drive in the full heat that will be out there around noon." I said, giving him the 'you're-such-an-idiot' look again. "Now eat your toast so we can go."

He did as I had told him and about fifteen minutes later we were sitting in my (beautiful!) car, driving down the narrow road that led to our house.

The ride went on in nearly complete silence. I concentrated on driving, and he slept most of the time, despite some occasions when he would grab one of the sandwiches and eat it. By half past eleven they were all gone, and hadn't had a single on e of them. _'Seems like his stomach doesn't care all too much about my wellfare...' _I thought. Half an hour later we reached the small town that was very close to our summer home, and I drove onto the parking lot of the town's supermarket.

"How many of your friends did you invite?" I asked him. "I need to know how much food we have to buy.". He seemed to count them on a mental list, and finally he said: "Uhm... six. So all in all we'll be eight people."

"_Oh my_... never mind." I said, getting out of the car. Seven teenagers! I could barely stand spending the entire day only with my parents!

We left the supermarket one and a half hours later, struggling to push three(!) shopping carts that were filled with food (Ricky had convinced me to buy much more food than necessary, babbling some senseless stuff about hungry armpits ...), and stuff one needs for house-cleaning and washing clothes. All the things we had bought barely fit into the car, for it already contained our two huge bags.

Twenty minutes later, the car was parking in front of our summer home, and we were lugging our bags and the shopping into the house. I immediately started stowing the food away, while Ricky inspected the house. It wasn't even close to being as huge as our regular home, but still there was plenty of space.From the outside it looked like an import from Sweden, being covered with white and blue painted wood. On the inside, white and blue were the dominant colors as well. There were six bedrooms, each of them furnished for two people. Three had double beds, and the rest had two single beds, so all in all twelve people would be able to live in the house. There were six bedrooms, five bathrooms, a spacy kitchen, a dining room and a huge livingroom. Plus, there was the landing stage at the lake, whose shore was only about twentyfive meters from the house.

When I lugged my bag into one of the bedrooms with a double bed, I heard Ricky rummaging around noisily in the room next to mine, which also contained a double bed. Although silently cursing myself for not taking the other double bed-bedroom that was separated from Ricky's room by two single bed-bedrooms, I was too lazy and tired from driving half the day, to carry the heavy bag into the other one. So I unpacked my things and then collapsed on my bed, falling asleep as soon as my head touched the pillow.

I woke up at the sound of Ricky's voice, whispering to me. "Ean? It's seven p.m.. You wanna eat somethin' ?" I opened my eyes to find the boy's face only inches away from mine. That didn't bother me too much, but then something occured to me:_Seven p.m._? I jerked up all by sudden, startling Ricky who fell on his butt with a loud 'thud' and glimpsed at me. Then he grinned. "Yeh gotta be extremely hungry, jumping up like this and all."

I stared at him. "Why didn't you wake me up?" I asked, rearranging my dishevelled hair back into a tight ponytail.

"You looked so peaceful when you were sleeping." he said, making me glare at him in disbelief. But he continued speaking indifferently. "So I watched TV and now I have made somethin' for dinner." he finished, getting up, and walking towards the door. Indeed, there was the smell of toast, eggs and bacon, which seemed to be the only food he could cook without causing a catastrophe. The smell of the food made my stomach rumble, reminding me of the fact that it had been more than twelve hours since last I had eaten something. So I followed him to the kitchen and we had dinner.

"By the way..." he said as we were eating, "...Mom called when you were asleep." I rolled my eyes heavenwards. It was typical for my mother, thinking that she needed to call us and make sure everything was okay. "I told her that everything is fine and that she doesn't need to worry 'bout us. She wanted me to give you a hug from her, but I don't think you would have let me, would you?" he smirked.

"Very well spotted, genius." I said without batting an eyelid.

Later that evening there was a fight about the remote control. Ricky wanted to watch 'Spongebob', but I snatched the remote control from his hands, switching over to the newschannel, so I could watch the news. That made Ricky jump up up, trying to regain the power over the remote control, screaming things like 'No! You can't watch this!The government is going to take over the control over your brain!', and I told him not to be such a jerk and to calm down, for I had been watching the news at least three times a week for the last years, and never had something tryed to take over my brain. But that didn't convince him at all and finally he was able to grab the remote and switch back to Spongebob. I glared at him. "When you're finished with watching that bullshit..." I told him, trying to drown out Spongebob's screeches, "...you might eventually help me with putting clean sheets on the rest of the beds, so _your _friends will have a place to _sleep_!". That caught his attention. He switched off the TV set immediately, and got up.

"Okay, let's start." he said. I was amazed at how the bare thought of his friends was able to distract him from everything else.

It took us one hour to put sheets on all the beds. When we were finished, all I wanted was having a shower and getting straight back to bed. Ricky made the impression of also intending to do so, for he quickly returned to his bedroom. I switched off the lights in the livingroom and kitchen, grabbed a short, black nightgown with a red skull and bones picture on it, and chose one of the free bathrooms.

The next morning I awoke at the the somehow muffled sound of my alarm clock. I looked around in my bedroom, but the thing was nowhere to be found. Then, the beeping stopped abruptly and I heard Ricky's bed croak in the neighbouring room. The guy had stolen my alarm clock! I jumped out of bed and stormed into his room.

"Why did you steal the bloody thing, huh?" I said, snatching it from the nightstand. Ricky, who was about to open the curtains, gave me a tired look and yawned.

" 'cause I didn't want to oversleep and miss the arrival of my friends.". He yawned again. "Would you please make some coffee?" he asked, looking at me with pleading eyes. I just glared at him, and then turned around and went back to my room, putting the alarm clock back onto _my _nightstand. Then I got dressed and went down into the kitchen to do what Ricky had asked me for. I didn't do it because he had asked me, but because I needed some coffee myself. My father had been right when he said that I was not a morning person. Although I used to wake up between seven and eight in the morning without the help of the alarm clock, one couldn't say that I was to be called a human being before having had the first cup of coffee.

We were sitting in the kitchen, drinking coffee and eating pancakes with honey and jam, when my thoughts drifted back to Ricky's friends. "Are there any ... _girls _amongst the kids you invited?" I asked slowly.

Ricky chuckled. "Oh, no. But, you know, it's funny that you call 'em 'kids'."

"Why?" I asked, glaring at him over the rim of my cup.

" 'cause they're at our age. Some are even older than you." he said, chuckling again.

'_Oh great_.' I thought. '_One week with a bunch of teenage boys who'll behave as if they were all grown up. I think I'll have to go and buy a baseball bat_.'

"Hey Ean, you're doing that glare again." Ricky said, "You know, the one that might eventually set the table on fire.". He smirked as I send him a furious glare. Then he looked at the clock on the wall. "Whoa! It's already ten! How long does it take the mini bus to get here from the bus station?"

"Dunno...maybe around ... fifteen minutes..." I mumbled into my coffee cup, at the same moment regretting having said anything at all, for the boy started jiggling around again.

"Will you stop that?" I groaned a little bit later, watching how he nearly dropped the empty dishes.

"Stop what?" he asked, quickly throwing _another _look at the watch. It had been only two minutes since he last did so.

"Stop acting like a jumpy rabbit and looking at the clock every other second. It's annoying me.". He didn't answer but went over into the livingroom. I swallowed the last sip of coffee and got up, too, putting my empty cup into the dishwasher. I didn't follow him into the livingroom. His nervousness was extremely annoying, and I felt like being alone for some time, so I went up into my bedroom, closed the curtains to prevent the hot summer sun from heating up my room, and started reading another book.

A bit over one hour later I heard Ricky yell from downstairs "Here they come! I can see the bus!", and then the front door slammed shut, as he had obviously stormed out of the house, towards the mini bus that came rolling up the driveway.

I let out a deep and heavy sigh. '_Heaps of fun_.' I thought, _'Heaps of fun_...'

A/N: Whoa...that's a long chapter... I tell you, it took me _forever _to write it! (groans) And I had so many other things to do, like, doing gardenwork for my mom and stuff. But now the guys from D-tent will be there! (cackling insanely) I already have got lots of interesting scenes buzzing around in my head, all that are waiting for being written down... (typing like mad).Oooooh...there will be very interesting scenes, indeed...

Did you notice the change in Ean's behaviour? While I wrote this chapter I imagined her her to having figured out that just letting things happen is sometimes better than fighting all the time. But still, she turns out to behave aggressive and bitchy from time to time. I think it suits her quite well, for she isn't a very friendly person.

And, as I already wrote, I tightened up the plot a bit (understatement of the year!), so it would be more interesting for you to read. I thought it would be boring if there were, like, six chapters, and nothing interesting happened.

Okay, so far, so good. I'd really love to receive some **reviews **from you folks! It always cheers me up! (smiles) And I promise, I'm trying to get the next chappy done quicklyer (urgh, what sort of word is that?)! It's weekend now and I'm finished with all the gardening stuff, so that should be possible. And remember, **reviews **keep me in a good mood... (hint hint)


	4. Chapter 4

A/N:First of all: Thanks to all my readers and reviewers! I love you guys!

Second: Ooookayyy... uhm, please don't throw any rotten tomatoes or stuff, but here's chappy four, finally complete! I'm sooooo extremely sorry for not updating in more than one week, but i have got three good excuses for it! Nr. 1) Biggest writer's block EVER! Nr. 2) I'm having theoretical driving lessons a the moment, means, I'm not even at home most of the time. Nr. 3) Because of that, I have to get up at 6 a.m. (yeah, you may pity me!) and in the evening I'm too bloody tired to even think straight...

I hope you can forgive me, and I promise that writing the next chapter won't last that long!

**Disclaimer**: Still, Louis Sachar owns Holes and the characters from the book.

**Chapter four - The arrival of the mob**

I looked out of the window, from where I could see a part of the driveway and the mini bus. But what I coudn't see was the door of the vehicle, so there was no chance I'd have a look at the kids before facing them. I turned away from the window, and turned on the light to check my reflection in the mirror. A long black skirt and another one of my black tank tops, combined with my long, dark purple hair and some dark eye make up I had put on right after dressing up, actually made me look a bit gothic. _'Good' _I thought, giving my reflection an approving nod, '_Maybe that'll keep them at distance, so I can spend my holiday in peace._'

It was that very moment, when I heard the guys come stomping up the chairs, chatting and laughing loudly. I switched off the light and walked towards the door. I recognised Ricky's voice as he said "Hey Caveman, You can sleep over here!", and then an unknown male voice coming from right in front of my door answered "Hector? What about sharing that room with me?".

I opened the door extremely silently, to find a rather tall, white boy with brown curls standing in front of it, turning his back towards me. I didn't say anything, waiting for the moment when he'd notice that I was standing there.

"Hey man, where's that sister of yours?" he yelled into the direction that Ricky's voice had come from earlier, and I just couldn't resist.

"_Right behind you_." I said in my darkest, creepiest voice. The guy jerked around screaming and fell straight down at his butt, making the other guys in the corridor whirl around see what happened. They all burst out laughing as I stuck out a hand at the brown-haired boy to help him up. But he just continued to stare at me in horror, hyperventilating. It seemed like I had really looked quite scary, sneaking out of a dark room, all dressed up in black.

"This..." Ricky said inbetween two waves of laughter, "...is Ean.". And he staggered over to the brown-haired boy (who was still sitting on the floor), and pulled him up onto his feet. "Don't pee yourself, Caveman, she doesn't bite. Very often." he said, giving 'Caveman' (what sort of name was _that_?) a reassuring pat on the back. The boy gulped and then managed to smile at me.

"Hi. I'm Caveman-... I mean, Stanley, but you can call me Caveman, of course. Everyone does." he said rather sheepishly, finally sticking out a hand at me. I took it and shook it very shortly before saying "I'm Ean. But you can call me _Ean_, of course. Everyone does.". He blinked at me nervously, but was rescued by his friends who were now gathering around us.

The first one of them to introduce himself was a skinny black boy with the thickest glasses I had ever seen. They looked like a couple of ashtray bottoms. When he came towards me I noticed that he was actually about three inches smaller than me, but still made the impression of a very confident person. _'Small guys always feel like they have to compensate something' _I thought as he stopped in front of me.

"Hi, Ean. My name's X-ray." he said, looking up at me through his glasses and smiling. Then he turned around and pointed at his friends, starting with a tall, fat, black boy who looked like some sort of a pseudo-gangster rapper. "That's Armpit. And that is Squid." he continued, pointing at a tall, skinny boy who was chewing at toothpick and smirking at me in a way that made me want to slap him. "The one you scared outta his pants is Caveman, and the lil' guy over there's Zero.". My weakly interested gaze fell on an extremely small, serious looking boy with cappucino coloured skin. Suddenly, a hispanic looking guy sqeezed himself past Ricky, grabbed my hand, and beamed at me while saying "Hi! I'm Magnet!" with a thick, spanish accent. I sent him an icy glare that made his smile freeze dead in its' tracks. "How nice. Finally someone who is able to introduce himself." I said sarcastically, withdrawing my hand from his grip.

Then, I turned toward Ricky. "So, _these _are the kids?" I said quietly, giving the hispanic guy named 'Magnet' another sidelong glance. Ricky nodded. "Uh huh.".

I wasn't particularly thrilled about living in this house for one week with people called X-ray, Armpit, Squid, Zero, Magnet and Caveman, and so I just nodded back and rushed down the stairs, past the boys who were still staring after me as if I were a creature from outer space. "Godamnit Zig, you never told us your sister looks like the hot twin of the blair witch!" I heard one of the guys (I guess it was Squid) say, and all of them laughed like only teenage boys could. I groaned, and my thoughts drifted to what he might possibly say if I spiked his eyes with that stupid toothpick.

The boys started unpacking their things, making far more noise than necessary, and yelling comments at each other through the corridor of the upper floor. Ricky obviously helped them and so I enjoyed the luxury of being alone in the livingroom. I even managed to find a TV channel that broadcasted news at this time of the day, and so I sat down on the sofa to finally, after four days, watch the news.

I hadn't seen two minutes of the first report, when a long arm reached over me from behind the couch, grabbed the remote and switched the TV off. I didn't even make efforts to throw my head in my neck in order to look at who had come to get on my nerves."The government, right?" I said, trying to make the possibility of my brain being taken over by such morons as our government officials sound impossible.

"You got that damn right, sis'. I won't let them get you.". Saying so, Ricky threw the remote back onto the sofa, turned around, and went back upstairs, from where I could hear him yell "I wouldn't go into that bathroom, Caveman!" as if nothing had happened. I sat on the sofa for one more minute, staring onto the black screen and wondering if I should just turn the TV on again. But, somehow, grabbing my book and fleeing from the noise the boys were making was a far more attracting thought than arguing with Ricky about the stupid remote again. Honestly, what was wrong with that kid?

I got up and was about to walk through the door, when Squid came rushing down the stairs at full speed, directly towards me. I jumped out of his way and yelled "Watch it, shithead!" after him. He managed to slow down, turned around and stared at me in surprise."Whoa, calm down! And no cursing, girlie!" he said, lifting his hands to make a consiliatory gesture.

"My name is Ean, not 'girlie'. And in my house I can curse as much as I want." I hissed, turning around and leaving the room without wasting one more glance on the dumbstruck boy. I staggered into my room, grabbed the book and went outside. Gazing up at the sky, I noticed that some clouds were showing, but the sun was still shining at full power. Maybe there would be a heat thunderstorm later that day, but I didn't expect it to start before evening. I trotted down the beaten path over the lawn, down to the landing stage, ignoring the midges that were swarming around my ears. I was used to the bugs, for usually I spent all summer at the lake, and so they didn't bother me all too much anymore.

The bench on the landing stage was still in a relatively good state. Although the white color needed to be refreshed, there were no slivers or rotting spots on it, and so I sat down and started reading.

About an hour later, the first raindrop hit page 97 of my book, and I threw a bad-tempered look at the sky. Within the time I had been sitting outside, the sky hard darkened and thick, dark gray clouds were hanging in it, the first single, fat raindrops falling out of them. I knew from experience that in five or ten minutes, outside there would be sheer pandemonium, and so I ran back to the house, the book wrapped into my skirt to protect it from the rain which was intensifying extremely fast. Although I really speeded and the distance was quite short, my clothes and hair were sopping wet when I reached the front door and hurried into the house. "Goddamn, fucking thunderstorms..." I cursed under my breath and slipped out of my wet flipflops. Zero was coming down the stairs when I locked the door behind me, and he gave me a short and amused smile, before saying "Got surprised by the thunderstorm?". I just scowled at him.

"Actually, _no_, it didn't surprise me. It just started earlier than I expected it to." I said, but he just shrugged.

"Whatever. You should put on some dry clothes."

"Oh, _what _you don't say..." I rolled my eyes, and swished up the stairs, towards my room. Inside, I locked the door, threw my (thanks to heaven _dry_) book onto the nightstand, and put on a pair of black, comfy trousers and a light blue t-shirt. It was one of my favourite t-shirts, showing the picture of a cute squirrel brandishing a cudgel, and under the picture the words "NICE? That was yesterday...". I shuffled into my bathroom and was just blow-drying my hair, when my stomach gave a loud rumble. I quickly threw a look onto the clock that was hanging on the wall: half past twelve, time for lunch. I switched off the hairdryer, put my hair into a bun, and went down into the kitchen. The closer I got to the kitchen door, the more intensively I could sense a very suspicious smell. I flung the kitchen door open and froze in the movement. Six of the boys (Zero was standing in the other kitchen door and watching the scenery with interest, chewing on an apple) were running around in the kitchen like headless hens, the rests of chopped vegetables were spread all over the floor, a reddish-bron mash was boiling over from a huge pot, and from a pan on the stove small flames and thick, black smoke were rising. X-ray was screeching like a Banshee at Magnet ("I _told _you this was not going to work, Mag!") and Magnet screeched like a Banshee at X-ray ("How should I know the pan would catch fire?"), Ricky was filling a bowl with cold water, obviously to put out the fire in the pan, Squid was pressing a towel against his mouth, coughing from the smoke, and Armpit and Caveman were trying to shovel the overboiling mash back into the pot. For short: It was hell on earth.

"WHAT THE FUCKING HELL DO YOU _THINK _YOU ARE _DOING _HERE!" I roared over the mess, my furious voice drowning out all the noise. At once they all fell silent and turned to stare at me. I rushed to the stove, pushed Caveman and Armpit aside, and turned it off, pulling the overboiling pot onto a cold part of the stove's surface. Ricky came hasting towards me with the cold water, but I stopped him "Stay away with that water! Or do you want the pan to explode?" and he froze on the spot. I quickly grabbed the cover of the pot and placed it on the pan, smothering the flames. Then I pointed at Squid whose eyes widened at the sight of the nasty expression on my face, and commanded "You! Open the windows. The rest of you: get outta here _now._"

They stared at me for half a second, and then all turned around to hurry into the livingroom, closing the door behind them. Ricky even took the bowl of water with him, being so shocked about my outburst that he had simply forgotten about its' existence. Squid opened the windows, and together we went into the livingroom, using the way through the corridor and closing the second kitchen door behind us.

In the livingroom, the boys were sitting on the sofas, looking like the picture of misery itself. Squid fell onto a place next to X-ray, and they all stared at me as if they were waiting for an excruciatingly painful punishment. A loud thunder crashed outside and they all jumped, Ricky spilling cold water onto his trousers, realising for the first time that he still held the bowl. Zero was standing next to the door, staring at me intentedly. I took a very deep breath and turned toward the boys.

"Okay, I am not a person to shout at people, and this is why I'll ask you calmly... What. Was. That? Huh? Were you trying to blow up the house, or what?" I knew that my voice wasn't really calm, but just sounded pressed, but nothing could have bothered me less at that moment. They all hung their heads in shame and embarassement, but none of them answered. Then, Zero's quiet voice came from the door. "They wanted to make some Chili con Carne. For lunch. But the pan caught fire, and the chili boiled over, as you already saw. And then you came."

I stared at him blankly for one moment, then turned my head back to the boys on the sofas. They still stared up at me, fear rising in their eyes. They looked like a bunch of students who had been caught spraying graffitti on the school house, and were now standing in front of the headmaster, praying to the Lord for forgiveness.

"Don't look at me like that! I'm not someone's mother who just found a party going on in her house or something." I snorted angrily, and they all gave me the most puzzled look I had ever seen on someone. "You'll tidy up that bloody kitchen, and then we'll make some proper lunch.". Zero gave me a weak smile, but I looked away, at the boys who were now all beaming at me as if I was Mother Teresa. I wasn't used to people looking at me like that, not at all, and so I went back into the kitchen to get an overview of the mess they had left behind. "You'll better get your cursed asses moving today."

It didn't take long to tidy up the kitchen, for there were six people helping (Zero and I refused to do something, for none of us had caused the mess), and so after twenty minutes the room looked like a kitchen again. Then I started cooking. I wanted to make a zuccini - tomatoe - meatball dish with rice, someting that didn't need much preparation and filled the stomach quite well. Caveman tapped me on the shoulder. "Uhm... can we somehow help you?" he asked cautiously. I quirked my eyebrows at him, thinking of the scenery that had taken place here only twentyfive minutes ago. Ricky interpreted my expression right, and took some plates out of a wall cupboard.

"Come on guys, we'll set the table." he said, giving me a grin that told me how he could read my thoughts. I rolled my eyes and started chopping the zucchini at high speed. The boys left for the dining room, packed with plates, glasses and cutlery, leaving me alone in the kitchen. I worked quickly and with routine, for I had been used to preparing my meals all by myself for years. I heard the boys in the corridor, it sounded like they were finished with setting the table, and now played dart. There was a dart board hanging in the corridor of the first floor. My father had bought it once and placed it there himself, "_Just in case there is a party and the guests would like to play a game..." _had been his cheap-excuse-of-an-explanation. But now the dart board at least kept the mob away from me (and the kitchen)...

The thunderstorm still went on during lunch. We were all sitting around the table in the dining room, even me. The thought of tomatoe- sauce on my bedclothes had kept me from eating in my room. Now I sat there, trying to fade out the pointless and dumb discussions of the boys, occasionally rolling my eyes, when somone made an extremely silly comment and they all burst out laughing. Zero and Caveman, however, seemed to keep for themselves most of the time. While the others were chatting loudly, the two of them would talk quietly, only occasionally joining in the 'conversation' with short comments or laughter. As the discussion grew extremely dimwitted, I started eating much quicker, and finished even before Armpit. I got up silently and carried my empty plate into the kitchen, then I went up into my room and sunk down onto the bed, staring at the rain and the movement of the trees outside, lost in my own thoughts.

I must have fallen asleep, for the weather had changed when I looked out of the window for the next time. The rain had stopped and most of the clouds were gone, so now the warm summer sunlight was heating up the air, making the water driplets on my window glitter. Then I noticed why I had woken up. Somebody was slamming his fists against my door! "What? I'm trying to enjoy my holidays here!" I railed, tearing the door open. Ricky stared down at me, his hands still in the air.

"Ean! Oh, thanks God you're awake!" he gasped, and I quirked one eyebrow at him, crossing my arms.

"What did you do, huh? Finally burned down the kitchen?"

"Uhm, no ... it's not us... well, not directly you know..." Why was the fool stammering around?

"Okay, while you are trying to come to the point, I'll go down and have a cup of tea." I said, trying to squeeze myself past him, but he grabbed my arm, making me turn around at him.

"No! Please, Ean, we need your help." he said, looking at me with his pleading puppy eyes. I took a deep breath and counted up to ten in my mind.

"What is it?"

"The Caveman's gone." Oh, that explained everything, of course! _The Caveman's gone! _Good Lord where was I? In the kindergarten? I didn't say anything, but just stared at Ricky blankly, waiting for further explanation, but none came.

"And that should bother me for _what _reason?" I finally said, breaking the short silence.

"Well, he's been gone for over three hours now, and Zero already tryed to find him, but that was one and a half hours ago, and he came back and said he couldn't find him and... _please _help us to find him! I know you don't like it but - ... well, we're really beginning to worry!" The puppy eyes again, now with a shimmer of fear in them.

"Why me? You've got five boys here who can help you to find him."

"They already tryed, but you are the only one here who knows the forest."

"So you know that he's in the forest?" I said. The house was situated inbetween the lake and a forest, very much like our regular home. A narrow path led into the forest from the front door.

"Yeah, Zero saw him go there after..." he suddenly stopped, and I became suspicious.

"What happened? Why did he go there in the middle of a thunderstorm?" I asked, and for the first time Ricky looked embarassed.

"Well, the guys were making fun of how he... uhm, well, how he was shocked by you so much... and..."

"And he became very angry and stomped off into the forest?" I finished the sentence for him. "A nice bunch of friends you got there.". I shook his hand off my arm and went to the stairs. "You comin' ?"

He stared at me questioningly, and I sighed. Those guys were too stupid.

"If you want me to look for your friend, you should at least get your ass moving to help me or at least come with me." I said, and his face lit up as if someone had lit a lamp behind it.

"Means you're helping us?" he said, beaming at my back as he hurried down the stairs after me.

"What does it look like? Plus, there's no chance you'll stop annoying me before I at least tryed to find your lost dumbass of a Caveman, right?"

In the the lower corridor, I was nearly run over by Squid. _Again_. "Is that some hobby of yours?" I exclaimed furiously, jumping out of the way to avoid a collision. He just gave me a short, puzzled look before turning toward Ricky again. "Zig, we've looked _everywhere _in that bloody forest! He's just _gone_!" he exclaimed, gesturing around, and I gave an angry snort.

"People don't just disappear. Not in _my _forest!" I said, storming out of the door. I was going to find that doofus! Maybe then they would give me some time off... The thought of having one or two days all for myself only encouraged me more, made me walk even faster. How had that jerk of a Caveman even managed to get lost in the forest? There was only one path for several miles, and that was the one that started at our door. '_He must have left it somewhere_.' I thought, and decided to concentrate on the sides of the path, rather than on the path itself. Maybe some footsteps, or a broken branch would give me a hint. The two boys caught up with me when I reached the edge of the forest, and stepped into the cool shade of the trees. We went on quickly for about five minutes, then I cut down the speed so we'd be able to notice if there was anything unusual. I briefly explained the boys what we were looking for, and they started observing the other side of the path and its closer surroundings, for once not chatting, but just concentrating on their task.

We had been walking for about ten minutes when we met the other boys who had regathered into a group again after looking for Caveman individually. Luckily there was no discussion about whether or not my searching-method was the right one to find him. They all just followed my order to look for unusual things like thrown up earth, broken branches, footsteps, etc.. Like this, the group went on for another twenty minutes, until Armpit suddenly shouted "Hey guys! Come over here! Quick!". We all hurried towards him. He stood there, pointing at the right side of the path, where there were some big footsteps in the wet ground. "Looks like he went up that hill." Armpit said, gazing into the direction the footsteps were leading to. I didn't say anything, but just followed them up to the top of hill.

A/N: Mwahahaha... I like that cliffy... What will she see from the top of the hill? Will she actually see anything? Or are the footsteps leading to nowhere? Read it in chapter five! But before you can read it, I'd like to recieve some **reviews **...


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Sooooo...here's Chapter five. Thanks to all my readers for ...well, reading and to my reviewers **Usagi of Feudal Moon Era**, and **I love Zigzag**. I love you guys!

This chapter is dedicated to **RMP**, I guess she knows why.

**Disclaimer**: Yep, still don't own 'Holes' ... (snif)

****

**Chapter five - Lost and found**

Mud was sticking to my feet as I climbed up the hill. The boys followed me, and I could hear them discuss: 'How do we know he's behind that hill?' 'We don't know it, Magnet, we only hope it.' 'Then why are we walking through all that mud?' 'Oh, stop complaining, man!'

I stopped on the highest point, letting my gaze shift around in the forest behind the hill, but I didn't see anything of Caveman. What I saw were nettles. Fields of nettles. Nearly the entire ground was covered by them. In the next moment, the boys were standing next to me, looking around, too. "Ouch." Squid said, "If the Caveman's down there, you'll have to go find him without me.". I couldn't help but giving him a disapproving glance.

"What a fine friend you are." I said arrogantly, "First making fun about him, and then not even willing to walk through some nettles."

Squid gaped at me, speechless. "By the way,..." I said, pointing at a gap inbetween the nettles, "... seems like there's some kinda path over there."

The boys all stared into the direction, as if they expected the Caveman to pop out from between the nettles, exclaiming that it was all just a joke. But of course he didn't, and so Zero, the smallest of the guys, staggered towards the gap, eyeing the poisonous plants suspiciously. Then suddenly he disappeared. "Oh no, not another one of them gone! Is this epidemic, or what?" I groaned and went after Zero's friends to look at where he had went. All together, we peered into the gap. What we saw was - nothing. There was something like a beaten path, but it formed a curve around a huge tree and so it wasn't to be seen where it went. "Ladies first." Ricky said, smiling his creepy smile again, but I just glared at him. "I don't see any _ladies _around here, despite you and your friends. So please, why don't you go fi-..." I tried to say, but was interrupted by Zero's voice .

"_I found him_! Over here! I found him!" he yelled, and all the guys forgot about the nettles instantly and stomped down the path at full speed. I rolled my eyes and followed them, carefully avoiding contact with the plants. _'Jerks_.' I thought.

We found him on a small clearing in the middle of a nettle field. The place was one big mud hole with a tree standing in the middle of it. Caveman gave a miserable sight. Not only that he was sopping wet, covered in mud and shivering, but also he seemed to have tripped and fallen into the nettles, for his arms, hands, neck, face and lower legs were full of huge, red nettle pustles. He stared up at us, sitting with his back leaned to the tree, not able to speak a word. Ricky spoke first. "Man, why didn't you come back? We thought a Grizzly ate you alive or something!" he pulled Caveman up to his feet for the second time that day, but the boy yelped in pain when Ricky touched the pustles, and he jerked his arm away quickly.

"Muchacho, you're lucky the chica helped us. If she hadn't, we would have never found you." Magnet said, smiling at me. I rolled my eyes.

"_Of course you wouldn't_." I muttered to myself, looking at my muddy sneakers, "_Chances are, you'd got lost, too, rather than finding him_..._not that that would have bothered me too much..."_

"Seems like you don't need me anymore here. I'll go back to the house then." I said and slowly started walking back down the path, when I heard Caveman scream behind me "NO! DON'T STEP IN THERE!" . But it was already too late. Suddenly, my right foot sunk into the ground, up to the shin, and I tripped and fell, arms first, into the mud. And the nettles.

"Holy _shit_!" Ricky was at my side within a second and lifted me up by grabbing me by the waist. "Jesus! Are you hurt, girlie?" Squid asked concernedly, but I didn't answer. I just stared at my forearms, where the same red pustles as Caveman had them were beginnig to appear. The itching pain was worse than one would have expected it. I was just about to forget everything my mother had told me when I was a little girl, and scratch my arm, when Caveman grabbed my hand. "Don't. It'll only make it worse." he said. I bit back an angry comment and withdrew my hand. Maybe he wasn't as stupid as I thought. "You're right." I said, shrugging, "Let's go back. I want some clean clothes.". Caveman laughed "_Dry _clothes. I'm freezing."

We walked back home, and after, like, five minutes, I found myself in the middle of the group. The boys laughed and joked around all the time, and I couldn't help but think how childish they were. Then something came up to my mind, and slowed down slowly until I was walking next to Ricky. "Hey Ean. How are your arms doing?" he said, and I groaned. "What? I it so bad?" he asked concernedly.

"No. It's just-..." I stopped. Should I tell him? Well, if I didn't he would go on with it forever. "It's that _'Hey'_. I just hate this word. There was a real motherfucking asshole at my class and he always said that word. Every _single_ one of his sentences started with it." I said, and felt Ricky smile at me. I didn't even have to see his face to know that he was smiling. "Okay, I won't say it again. Don't want you jumping at my throat." _Haha_, _very funny_... "Is that what you wanted to say? Or are you schizophrenic and this is your alter ego who actually enjoys my company?" he chuckled.

I glared at him, but that didn't stop his grinning. I started speaking quickly, before he was able to pull another wisecrack like that. "I wanted to ... uhm...thank you for helping me out of the mudhole..." I said, wondering why my voice grew so quiet suddenly. Ricky's grin became a warm smile. "No problem. But... _wow_, you're behaving like a normal human being!" he said, pretending to be amazed. My head jerked up and I snorted.

"Yeah, you're the right one to say that, Mr."The-government-takes-over-your-brain!". " I shot back. Suddenly Squid was next to me, coming out of nowhere.

"Man, Zig. Don't say you're still keeping people from watching the news! Didn't you say they gave you a therapy?" he said, and I stared at Ricky.

"A _therapy_? Against _what_?" I said, trying to sound calm, but failing terribly. Squid answered for Ricky. "Don't you know? Your brother used to suffer from acute paranoia."

I froze dead in my tracks and Ricky promptly bumped into me. I whirled around and stared at him. "You have... paranoia?" I asked breathlessly, and he squirmed around. "Well... I _had_. I got a therapy against it. They used all that stuff, you know. Psychotherapy, mind drugs... wasn't very nice. But I'm quite okay now." he looked at me insecurely, but I stared right through him. _Mind drugs_. I remembered mind drugs, but they definitely belonged to a phase in my life that I didn't want to be remembered of. "They make you feel like a zombie, don't they?" I said without thinking and cursed myself in the same moment for not keeping my mouth shut. It turned out that all the boys had been listening to our 'conversation' for now the entire mob was staring at me. "Yeah. They do..." Ricky said, observing me critically, "But how do you know?"

"Uh... never mind." I said, trying to regain composure. I put on a harsh face again. "It's none of your business, by the way." With these words I rushed past them, ignoring their piercing looks in my back.

I was the first one to reach the house and immediately disappeared in my room to get some clothes. Then I went into the bathroom, took off the muddy clothes, washed myself, and then put on a pair of long jogging trousers and a black, oversize Adidas t-shirt. My forearms gave a distressing tingle each time I touched them and so I was quite edgy when I finally left the bathroom. Plus, my comment on the mind drugs and the fact that my parents had actually adopted a _psycho _and still expected things to go well between him and me, still bothered me. I took two wet washclothes down to the kitchen. While I put a lot of salt on them and then placed them on my forearms, I kept on wondering what I should say if the boys asked me about the mind drug thing again. '_The best thing will be to simply ignore them, just like I igored the dumbasses at school...'_ I thought while the salt extracted the nettle poison from my skin and the pain slowly eased. Then Magnet walked into the kitchen. I looked out of the window, ignoring his questioning looks, pretending I hadn't noticed him.

"What are you doing, chica?" he asked.

"Primero: My nombre no es _chica_. Me llamo Ean. Y segundo: Estoy haciendo algo contra el erupción en mi piel." (_First: My name is not chica. It's Ean. And secondly: I'm doing something against the rash on my skin_.) I said, and he stared at me wide-eyed. Then a big smile spread across his face and he said: "See see, the chica speaks Spanish, too."

"Seems so, _burrito_." I said and went into the livingroom to settle down on the sofa. He followed me and I glared at him. "Why can't you leave me alone?" I said angrily, and he flashed me his smile again. "Squid said, you freak out very quickly. I want to see if I can get you freaking out, too." he said, and once more I felt the urge to show the seafood-guy another place than his mouth for his toothpick to stick in. "You guys have too much freetime." I said, getting up. "And tell your foolish seafood-friend, the next time he'll-..." I tried to say, but was interrupted by the whole mob, including the pustle-covered Caveman, coming into the livingroom. "What shall he tell me?" Squid asked. I gave him the frostiest look ever. "The next time you'll try to run me over or call me girlie, I'll show you some exciting new placed to stick your toothpick. You're getting on my nerves." I squeezed myself past the group, but not without telling Caveman to put wet, salty washclothes onto the rash. He thanked me with a nod and I stomped up the stairs, into my bedroom. _'Is this the only room where I can spend more than five seconds alone_?' I asked myself. '_How did my peppy parents get the idea that I'd be able to stand this for one entire week?' _Well, that was a good question. I had often before wondered what was going on in my parents' heads, but this time I was very close to making a phone call to Dubai to ask them WHAT THE HELL they had thought while adopting a nearly grown-up, male, paranoid teenager. Okay, he said he had had a therapy, but they should have known from my example that psychotherapies often didn't work. I was ripped out of my dark thoughts my a loud rumble coming from my stomach. '_Okay, I should make some dinner before the fools get any other great ideas how to set the kitchen on fire...'_

I opened my door and walked straight into Ricky. "Second collision today. Seems like this is becoming some habit of yours." he smirked, and I glared at him. He continued quickly, so I wasn't able to respond. "I wanted to ask you if you _please_..." he stressed the word _please _and looked at me intentedly, "...will help us to make dinner.". Well, that was surprising. The guys were able to learn from failure. Impressive.

"Sure." I shrugged, and together we went down. When we walked past the livingroom-door, I got a quick glance on the Caveman lying on the sofa, nearly entirely wrapped in wet, salty towels. "I want you and Zero to help me. Go get him." I commanded and Ricky gave me puzzled look, but then he shrugged and one minute later the tallest and the smallest guy of the mob stood in front of me, waiting for instructions. Half an hour later, a huge pot full of steaming hot, nice-smelling soup stood on the table. Zero had turned out to be a person of few words, which made him far more sympathic in my eyes than before, and Ricky had managed to cut only the parts of the vegetables we really needed. What an improvement.

During dinner, a tensed atmosphere hung over the table, as if they all wanted to ask me the same question, but didn't dare to. Squid shot me strange glances from time to time. When we were finished, the guys went to watch TV, and I returned to my room. Comics weren't the kind of TV-show I liked, and so my book became my best friend again. But, of course, someone up there hated me, so it didn't take half an hour until there was the well-known knock at my door, and Ricky's head popped into my room. "Why don't you come and join us?" he asked, and I just gave him a blank look, trying to submit that this question was simply pointless, for I'd never agree to watch Spongebob with a bunch of teenage boys. Plus, he knew that very well, so there was no way he'd make me believe that this was the reason for his visit. "What do you really want, huh?" I asked.

"Uhm... it's about that thing you said today in the forest..." he started, but I cut him off. "The mind drug-thing, right? Well, if you want to know something about that, I have to disappoint you. It's nothing I'll ever talk about. Sorry. Now you can go back down to your friends and tell them that I don't think that it's any of their business." I wanted to start reading again, but then I heard Ricky say "It's not a bad thing to talk about it." and I looked at him surprisedly. He gave me the most serious look I had ever seen on him.

"How come you think that I am the one who took the mind drugs? Maybe a friend of mine told me about them?" I said, trying to distract him from my person. He shrugged.

"Dunno. Maybe because you sounded like you were speaking from personal experience..." he said slowly, then gave me another serious, questioning look. I picked up my book, deciding to quit the conversation. "Like I already said, it's none of your business. Will you now please leave me alone? Thanks.". Ricky didn't answer, but closed the door behind him and walked to my bed, sitting down on the edge. '_Somehow this seems familiar to me.' _I thought, remembering the evening when he had killed the broccoli. "Didn't I just ask you to leave me alone?" I said, still reading, "What you do is not very polite."

"This here is not about being or not being polite. By the way, you're not the friendliest and politest person ever, too." he said calmly. I just continued staring at the pages. "What is it with _your friend _and the mind drugs?" he asked, and I threw the book down.

"It's NONE of your business, _okay_?" I practically yelled at him, and he jumped, staring at me wide-eyed. Then his expression turned normal again. "Calm down, Ean. I'm just trying to be friendly."

"Keep your friendliness for yourself." I hissed, and suddenly he seemed kind of angry.

"Why are you so mean?" he exclaimed, "Everyone's just trying to get along with you, but you always behave like the most arrogant bitch ever. Just take your parents, for example. They love you and would do anything for you. And you treat them like stupid kids or something. Why? Why are you doing this? And don't tell me it's none of my business, because it definitely is."

I just stared at him, my mouth hanging open a bit. "I know they love me... a few years ago that was the _only _thing that kept me from going crazy, okay?" I said not thinking about whom I was talking to. It was as if his words had pushed a button deep inside of me. I couldn't keep the words from just coming out of my mouth, although I had never talked about it before. "Do you know what it feels like to have no friends? Huh?" I said, and to my surprise he nodded.

"Yeah, I do. People don't like psychos." he said. "Nobody wanted to have anything to do with me, until I met the boys that are currently sitting in our livingroom.". He sounded sad, and ... angry? But also, his voice was full of warm sympathy for his friends. He hung his head and stared at his feet. Then he looked up at me again. "So you were one of these kids that don't have friends?" he asked.

"Hmmm ..." I nodded, lost in my memories, "They didn't like me because I was taller than all of them, because I was smarter than all of them, and because I was unfriendly." I said, and Ricky chuckled. I glared at him, but he just shrugged. "Seems like unfriendliness is just part of your nature." he explained.

"This isn't funny." I said, "If you wanna have a good laugh, you can go back down and watch Spongebob."

"Sorry, you're right. It ain't funny. Please, go on." he said, but I shook my head, having found back to my old uncommunicativeness. No need for him to know about the times when I used to be a Thorazin-queen ... (A/N: Thorazin is a psychotrope pharmaceutical)

"I don't think I really want to talk about this any further. I'm not very much the person to share my innermost with others, okay?" I said. He looked at me blankly for one moment, then shrugged. "Whatever. If you feel like talking, you know where to find me.". He got up and walked back to the door. In the doorframe he stopped. "Ean?"

I looked at him. "I'm sorry for calling you arrogant and ... you know, a bitch." he said.

"No need to feel sorry." I said, "I guess you were right."

"No I wasn't. You're not a bitch. Know what I think? I think something is on your mind and it just bothers you. But let me tell you that there's no need to be unfriendly because of that. Not towards my friends." he said, and I stared at him. "Maybe you don't have the finest past, but neither have they. None of them will make fun of you, as long as you're just honest and give us the reason for your behaviour.". Saying so, he quietly closed the door, leaving me alone in my room. I continued staring at the closed door, completely stunned. He had sounded so... serious, but still understanding. Not like all the psychologists my parents had dragged me to. They only wanted to make money, just pretending to be listening to me. But Ricky ... there was something about him that just make me feel as if he really listened to what I said and got the meaning behind it. Five minutes passed until...

"Oh, damnit!" I said angrily, jumped out of bed and stomped down to the livingroom where I planted myself in front of the TV set and the guys all stared at me. I took a deep breath. "Listen." I said with a clear voice, "I'm not a friendly person, so don't expect me to be nice. But I want to apologize for behaving like a bitch without reason. Sorry."

They all stared at me, dumbstruck. I looked at Ricky, and he flashed me a big smile. _'I'm proud of you_.' he silently formed with his mouth, and I rolled my eyes. The boys' looks shifted between me and Ricky, then Armpit asked: "Yo Zig, how did you do that?"

"Yeah man." Squid agreed, "How did you get her to apologize? I mean..." he looked at me critically, "...she's not half as scary as she was an hour ago."

"Excuse me? Now you're exaggerating." I said angrily, and already regretted having apologized to the guys.

"Nah dawg, that's what _you _think." X-ray said. "Just think of the Caveman." . We all looked at Stanley, and he blushed lightly. "Ean, you _are _scary..." he whispered, and I shook my head in disbelief. "Then tell me why I'm scary." I demanded, crossing my arms.

"Okay, maybe you're not very scary. But neither do you inspire too much trust. Some reasons for that: First: Your black clothes. Second: Your death glare. And third: You're extremely tall." X-ray explained. The others all nodded, except Ricky and Zero.

"Yeah, by the way: How tall are you, chica?" Magnet asked.

"1,81 m." I said indifferently, and the boys all gasped in unison.

"Bloody hell, she's taller than me!" Armpit said, pretending to be shocked. "How much's the difference?" Ricky asked, smiling. "One entire centimeter." Armpit said and the boys all burst out laughing.

"Come on, it's not like you're all gnomes or something." I said. Those guys were making such a drama out of the whole thing! "Ricky for example is taller than me. And Squid and the Caveman are, too. And that's by the way not the reason why I'm standing here. I still wanna know whether or not the apology is accepted."

X-ray smiled at me widely. "No problem, just forget about it. We're used to people scaring and threatening us, right, lads?" The other boys nodded, grinning. I just stared at them "_Used to people_- ..." I said slowly, thinking about his words. "Uh, where do you come from? I mean, it's not really normal to be used to people scaring and threatening you, is it?" I asked. Honestly, these boys were becoming weirder and weirder...

Squid smirked at me and then at the blushing Ricky, and I became very suspicious. "Zig, don't say you haven't told her where you got to meet us...?" he said, and suddenly all the boys were looking at Ricky. "Uhm...no..." he said quietly, and they all grinned at each other.

"Would you fools tell me what amuses you so much?" I demanded, and they smirked at me. Actually, that was way more scary than I would have ever been able to look like. "Aren't you classmates or something?" I asked. Magnet chuckled. "Somehow. We were ... tentmates at camp." he said, and now they started giggling like a bunch of little girls that just planned out a great prank. It was annoying.

"So, your reason for giggling around here is that you met at some summer camp? That's stupid." I said matter-of-factly, but now they started laughing really hard. "Nah, not summer camp..." X-ray snorted, "Camp Green Lake Juvenile Correctional Facility for criminal boys, Texas."

My face fell. I turned to Ricky who was staring into the void, his face red as a tomatoe. "_Criminal boys_?" I asked, and he threw a short, nervous glance at me before looking away again. "I _told _you they don't have the finest past, either." he said quietly.

- End of chapter six -

A/N: Well guys, now Ean knows that's she's trapped with a bunch of criminals. Will she freak out? Will she call her parents? Will she flee? More on this topic in the next chapter. **Reviews**, criticism, suggestions, etc. are very welcome...


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Dun dun dun dun... Chapter SIX! Thank all you guys for reviewing! You really make my day. D And I swear to God, I never even thought of abandoning the story! NEVER! I simply was too busy with finding a flat in another town (yay! my first own flat! ehehehehe!), buying furniture, packing my things...all that stuff that is annoying but still necessary (sighs heavily)... I guess you all know what I mean. (sighs again)

There are so many reviewers I'd like to dedicate this chapter to (I'd really love to dedicate to any of you - I love you guys!) but I chose **UnSchuldig **and **Llian Lan Elijah**, because they belong to my closests real life friends. )

**Disclaimer**: Argh...STILL Holes is not mine!

**Chapter six - A small piece of paper**

" 'Not the finest past' ... man, you're the winner of the understatement-of-the-year award." I said, and the boys laughed even harder. I kneeled down in front of Ricky, forcing him to look at me. "I don't like shouting at people." I said quietly, "And I'm not going to freak out, for actually your friends seem to be quite harmless." I shot a quick glance at them. Squid, who sat next to Ricky, had heard the comment and immediately tried to look like a tough and mean guy, but actually ended up looking plain silly. I rolled my eyes and looked back at Ricky.

"So...it doesn't ... bother you?" he asked insecurely, and I shook my head. His face lit up and he smiled. "You know, you pretend not to be nice, but somehow ... in a strange way ... you are." he whispered. I rose my eyebrows and put on a doubting face. "Don't get sentimental, dude." I said, but he just continued to smile at me knowingly. In the meantime, the boys had calmed down a bit, and now Caveman spoke. "I'm not a criminal." he said, and I gave him a disbelieving glance.

"For sure. Let me guess: You were sent there _innocently_..." I said, and he gaped at me.

"How do you know that?"

I groaned and was about to give him a very _nice _answer, but in that moment someone tugged at my sleeve. I turned around to see Magnet looking at me curiously. "What do you want, _burrito_?" I said.

"How come you're not afraid, chica?" he asked. "Most girls would be quite shocked now, wouldn't they?". The other boys nodded.

"Would you like me better if I was running around screaming? I don't think so. And by the way, you guys don't look like you're rapists or murderers or something." I explained.

"How could you know that? I mean, what a rapist looks like. For all you know, any of us could be one." X-ray commented, and I just quirked my eyebrows a bit more.

"Trust me, if one of you was a sex offender, he would have noticed much earlier that I knew he was one. Got it?". They made such puzzled face, that without wanting it I sighed. "I recognize an asshole when I see one." I added and _finally _they understood. Ricky stared at me in shock. "Have you been ... _raped_?" he gasped and all the boys' heads turned toward me synchronely. "No! Man, honestly!" I exclaimed. "And by the way, ... girls who have been raped don't walk around talking about it so open-mindedly. Keep that in mind for the future." I said, and he seemed to calm down, but not much. "But there was a guy in your past who tried, otherwise you wouldn't recognize one." he said. "What if so?" I asked. My thoughts went back to an evening three weeks before my birthday. That guy deserved what had happened to him. (A/N.: Check chapter one again... ;-) )

"Then, girlie, we'll beat the pulp outta him if you like." Squid growled, and I looked at him in surprise. Had he just offered to beat a guy up _for me? _"Bastards that don't respect girls just deserve to get beaten up from time to time..." he said. I shook my head.

"Thanks for this generous offer, Mr Seafood. But the guy already got - ...". I bit my lip. No ending for that sentence. No need for them to know about the night in jail that had followed my little attack on the bastard. The boys all looked at me curiously, and then Ricky flashed me his knowing smile again. "_What he deserved_? Ean, somehow I start believing that there is more than one thing you should tell us."

"Somehow I start believing that you didn't get the meaning in '_I don't share my innermost with others_.' " I said calmly.

"Fine, if you don't wanna tell me, I'll just ask Mom and Dad." he shrugged. What a child. And he was supposed to be eighteen years old?

"Do so." I said, "As long as you don't get on my nerves anymore with questions I'll probably never answer."

"What was it with you and the mind drugs?" Zero suddenly asked and we all turned around to stare at him. That moment it suddenly occurred to me that he hardly ever spoke when the entire group was around. But that wasn't the topic now. And neither was my connection with mind drugs.

"Like I already pointed out: That is none of your business." I replied angrily. Why wouldn't they stop questioning me? Were there no interesting people at where they came from?

"It's okay Zero." Ricky said, "If she doesn't want to talk about it herself there's no way you'll get her talking. I've tried it the past days and always failed.". He flashed me a bright, amused grin, and I threw him a black '_You're-an-idiot' _look.

"Yoou know what? I'll go back to my room now, so I don't have to listen to what else you're telling your friends about me." I said acidly, getting up. He gave me a concerned look.

"Ean, I'm sorry. I didn't mean-..."

"Save your regret for someone who cares, okay?" I stated calmly as I left the livingroom. That was honest. I didn't care about whether people were sorry for what they said about me. Plus, he was totally right, so there was no need for any excuses.

The sun was still up in the sky and the air outside was full of the sounds of nature in summer. I opened the window widely and took a deep breath, looking at the beautiful landscape that was lying in front of my eyes. The rustling trees, the lake water reflecting the evening sun ...it felt good just to enjoy the peace of the scenery. For one moment I even forgot about Ricky and his annoying friends. I had nothing against them personally, just against their curiousity and their immature behaviour. Ricky had said that some of them were even older than me. Well, they couldn't be much older, for obviously they still were bound to school holidays.

'_Why am I thinking about these brats anyways_?' I suddenly thought, '_In one week they'll be gone_.'. Exactly. One week. It should be possible to ignore their questions for one week.

With a deep sigh I grabbed the book from my nightstand and sat down on the bed. When I looked up from the pages for the next time, I did it because actually I wasn't able to see anything anymore. The sun had nearly set, and so I turned on the light and continued reading, my gaze flying over the pages. From downstairs I could hear the boys laugh, and wondered what they were laughing about. Maybe a TV show. I shrugged and went on with my lecture. Half an hour later, the sounds of the TV went silent and I heard the boys climb up the stairs.

"Good that you have so many bathrooms here, Zig." Squid said. Then they all rummaged around in their rooms which was clearly audible through the thin walls. '_One week only, so stay calm, Ean. Don't jump up to ask them WHY THE HELL they just can't do things quietly...' _I told myself.

Then there was silence for about twenty minutes when they all were in the bathrooms, and I thanked God for not letting one of them sing under the shower. Then the wooden floor planks in the corridor creaked, and there was a gentle knock at my door. I looked up from the pages.

"We just want to say good night." Ricky said. His hair was wet from showering and his friends stood behind him, as far as I could tell. He was so tall that he effortlessly was able to cover any of them. There were some "Good night, Ean."'s coming from behind him, so I mumbled back a "...'night." and then the door was closed.

Well, this was a good example of how I imagined this holiday to work: They don't get on my nerves, and I don't get all too unfriendly. Maybe they had finally understood that.

In the neighbouring rooms the beds croaked. I wondered why they went to bed so early. It wasn't even ten p.m.. Then it occurred to me that some of them maybe came from other states, and that it had been a long day for them.

This night, I went to bed at two a.m.. As I silently tapped through the corridor, everything was quiet, apart from the crickets outside that could be heard through the open window, and the snores of some of the boys. They weren't coming from the bedrooms next to mine.

Short time later I fell into a deep, dreamless slumber.

The brilliant rays of summer sun awoke me by shining directly into my eyes. I blinked and let out a silent curse. "Damnit. The curtains...". They were still open, so there was no barrier between the sunbeams and me. I threw a quick glance on the alarm clock: not even seven! Why did the sun have to rise so early? I got up and shuffled over to the open window. Birds were singing and a faint touch of mist still hung under the forest trees. But there I stood, wide awake. I gave the sun another grumpy glare and went down into the kitchen to have breakfast.

Half an hour later I put on my swimsuit, a bathing robe, and a pair of flipflops and went down to the landing stage. The clear, warm morning air greeted me. Perfect weather for swimming!

Without realizing how much time passed, I swam for about an hour, nearly reaching the other shore. When I came back I found Ricky, Armpit, Squid and Zero in the kitchen. "Morning, Ean! Had a good night?" Ricky said, smiling friendly. "Hmmm... not a very long one. Forgot to close the damn curtains." I moaned and the guys laughed. "Awwww, did my lil' sis' not get enough sleep?" Ricky said in a baby-kind of voice and pinched me in the cheek. I knocked his hand away with a rapid, aggressive movement.

"No need to go all aggressive, _karate kid_, I was only kidding." he grinned, "Haven't you had your coffee yet?"

"Actually, I got up long before you doofus and already had breakfast."

"Uh huh." Ricky nodded. "And what did you do since breakfast? Killed a few squirrels for lunch?". They all burst our laughing.

I glared at him. Teenage boys, honestly."I went swimming, genius. Just in case you haven't noticed: There's a lake out there." Saying so, I disappeared from the kitchen and went into the bathroom to blow-dry my hair. Then I put on a light, black cotton summer dress and went back down to get the book that was still lying on the counter, and to have a second cup of coffee. When I came down, all the boys were hanging around in the kitchen, eating toast or cornflakes. Magnet still looked extremely tired.

"And Dad says _I'm _not a morning person..." I mumbled as I watched him yawn so widely that he nearly dislocated his jaw. "Try a cup of coffee, _burrito_." I said, placing one in front of him, and then filling another one for myself. He smiled at me gratefully, but I was already on my way back to my room.

For the rest of the morning I heard nothing of the boys. Probably they went swimming. I didn't know and I didn't care all too much. It was just a plain ordinary holiday, like I had wanted it, and so I was in a quite good mood when I went downstairs to make lunch. Caveman and Zero were sitting in the livingroom alone. They saw me and followed me into the kitchen.

"Would you help me with making lunch?" I asked. Caveman nodded.

"Sure."

After a while he asked: "How come you never do anything together with us? Isn't it boring to hang around in your room all day?"

"Answer to second question: No it isn't boring. Answer to first question: You haven't been here for 24 hours, so 'never' is a bit too strong. And anyways, I'm neither here to spend time with you, nor am I interested in it. I'm here to enjoy my holidays."

From the edge of my eye I saw him and Zero exchange glances, then they both smiled. "You're behaving like Zero when he was at camp. Hardly ever talked and most of the time just lay on his cot." Caveman said.

"Whatever. Keep an eye on the noodles. They're about to boil over." I said. When he sped over to the stove, I turned toward Zero. "So, lil' guy. Why wouldn't you talk to your tentmates?" I asked. He shrugged.

"Just don't like answering stupid questions." he said. Okay, that was creepy. He sounded like _me_.

"Ean? Are you still amongst us?" Caveman waved one hand in front of my eyes, and I blinked.

"What?" I asked, and he frowned.

"You were spaced out." he said, then his face relaxed again. "I think the noodles are ready. What about the meat?". I went to the stove and cut one of the chops in two halfs.

"Ready." I said, "Go get your friends.". And off the Caveman went. "Wherever they might be..." I added, muttering under my breath.

"They're on the lake, swimming." Zero said.

"Why are you two not with them?"

"Stanley can't swim and I didn't want to leave him alone." he said indifferently. I gave him a long look.

"You're a good boy.He's glad to have you as friend." I finally said without the faintest touch of sarcasm in my voice. He gave me a very weird look and opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by Armpit's "Wow, that smells GOOD!". I turned around to see five sopping wet boys who were actually dripping water all over the expansive parquet floor.

"Okay, you guys..." I said, "...will get decent before you recieve anything to eat." They all pouted, but I ignored them. "And one of you will wipe up the water, or my mother kills us all for destroying the parquet. Now get your asses moving!". They all hurried off, leaving only Zero, Caveman and me behind. I threw a look out of the window. Outside the weather was just plain perfect. "We should set the table outside. Come on, we'll get the terrace furniture from the shack." And so we did. I got the guys to clean the chairs, while I scrubbed the table. Inside, the other boys discussed who should wipe up the water they had left behind in front of the kitchen door. After awhile it started getting on my nerves and so I stomped inside, taking the napkin with me. Apart from Armpit, who was wearing a dark grey t-shirt, they still were only half-decent. The only thing that had changed was that they now wore dry capris or shorts. I couldn't take offense at it, it was quite hot outside. I threw the cold, wet napkin at X-ray. It hit his neck and he jumped with a short scream. They all skipped around to stare at me. "Just wipe it up and come to lunch. And bring plates, cutlery and the pots with you." I commanded and went back outside.

Five minutes later we were all sitting around the table in the full sunshine, and the boys gulped the food down like they hadn't had some in days. '_Guys and their manners when they don't feel watched_.' I thought. '_Jim, Kenneth and Will weren't any better concerning that. But they were better at not getting my nerves_.'

_Shit_...thinking about my old friends spoiled my appetite within a second. I put down the fork and knife, but luckily none of the boys noticed. '_Okay Ean, you haven't thought about them for more than a year, and you won't start it again right now.' _I told myself, taking a deep breath. I had lied to Ricky when I told him I never had friends. Actually, before I got into grade nine, my parents and me had moved to Washington D.C.. Although I was only fourteen, I was often mistakenly thought as being seventeen (don't ask me why), and so I finally ended up hanging with a bunch of goths from my school that were three, four, or even five years older than me. Jim, Charlene, Kenneth, Will, Winola, and Charlene's cousin Zoey were cool people. They understood me, and they never asked stupid questions. They had just been ... there for me. Stressing _had been_.

A gentle tap on my left shoulder made me jump. I whirled around to see Squid frowning on me. "What'cha thinking about, girlie?" he asked, and I rolled my eyes.

"Don't call me girlie. And what I am thinking about definitely doesn't belong to the things you need to know, Mr. Seafood."

"Come on, Ean. You looked like you were close to crying..." he whispered, giving me a meaningful look. Oh _gosh_... that wasn't true, right?

"Interesting to hear how carefully you're observing me." I whispered back, half angrily, half in a jeering voice. It worked: his meaningful look disappeared, and he went all red like a tomatoe, reconcentrating on his food immediately. Zero chuckled silently on my right side. I looked around at the other boys to find out whether anyone else had noticed the little scene. Of course, Ricky was watching me carefully. _Who else_? My inner self let out a deep sigh. It wouldn't take long until he came up to me again, demanding to finally hear the truth. Well, if he wanted to hear something about my past, then why didn't he ask my parents, like he had said?

I got up abruptly, ignoring the boys' curious looks, and took my plate inside to throw away the rest of the food. With my book attached to one hand, I left the house through the front door, avoiding the boys, and heading for a group of trees on the unmown lawn, about fifty metres away from the house.In the shade of the trees I sat down and opened the book, but I wasn't able to concentrate. Instead, my thoughts drifted back to what Squid had said: '_You looked like you were close to crying_.'.

Fuck it. It was two and a half years since the ... accident, and still I nearly started crying whenever I thought of my old friends. But now I was able to control my emotions, so I wouldn't fall back into the old thought pattern that had cost me four and a half months of my life.

Suddenly a shadow appeared on front of me, making me look up to see Ricky. '_Surprise_!' was my only thought, as he kneeled down in front of me.

"Okay Ean, what is up with you? From one moment to the other you change from a shrew to a normal person and back again, and now you sit there, lost in your thoughts, looking as if you start crying the next moment ... Whom were you thinking about?"

"You should hear yourself, honestly. You're worse than the Spanish Inquisition." I groaned, but I felt that this time he would't leave me alone so easily.

"Just answer the question, Ean." he said, looking slightly annoyed.

"Okay, if you need to know it so desperately: I was thinking about some people I used to hang out with some years ago. Answer enough? Can I go on reading now?"

"So you _had _friends. Why didn't you tell me? You said you never had some.". He looked curious, and somehow ... hurt?

"I didn't tell you the exact truth. People do that sometimes, get used to it.". A short silence followed these words. Then Ricky spoke again.

"What happened?" he asked, and I gave him an annoyed glance.

"Obviously they don't hang around with me anymore, as you maybe noticed." I said.

"Yeah, I noticed that you're all alone, that you won't let anyone get close to you, and that you're close to tears when you think about them. Come on, you're not fooling anyone. What happened between them and you?"

Instead of looking at him, I turned my head and stared at the sparkling surface of the lake.

"Ean? You know that it's rude not to answer questions?"

"You asked the wrong question." I said in a barely audible voice. Ricky frowned, confused.

"The wrong question?"

"You should have asked: What happened _to _them?" I said.

"Fine. So what happened to them?" he said, shrugging.

"They... uhm... we were..." I attempted to say, but failed. I had never talked to anyone about this. Gulping heavily, I said: "Sorry. I just ...can't...What do you wanna it know for, anyways?"

"I'm just trying to find out why you're so distant. It's not good for you, you know? But if you can't talk about your friends because it's too bad for you, I guess I already found the reason."

"Nice analysis, Doctor Ricky. Let me guess, next time our mother makes a phone call, you'll ask her." I said, slowly leaving the moment of weakness behind me, finding back to my old cynism.

"Guessing right, sis' ."

"You don't want to hear her version. It'll give ou a false impression of my old ... friends."

"But you won't answer me, will you?"

"Hm..." I gently shook my head. "But Roberta Angelini will." I said, getting up and heading for the house. Ricky came hurrying after me.

"Who's Roberta Angelini?"

"She worked for the _Washington Post _when I was fourteen."

"What does the _Wash_-..." he tried to ask, but I cut him off.

"Stop asking. I'll show you."

Five minutes later I handed him an old article, which I had cut out of the Washington Post from April 5th 2003.

"_Tragic end of a party_? What is that supposed to tell me?" he asked, waving the small piece of paper around.

"Just read it, and stop asking."

"Fine." he grumbled and sat down on my bed to read the short article. While he read, his lips were moving, and I saw his face grow more serious from second to second.I could very well imagine why, for I had read the text so often that I nearly knew it by heart.

_Tragic end of a party_

_Last night a terrible drama happened in the well known Goth-Club "Darkflower". In an act of murder-suicide 18-year-old Charlene W. killed herself, her cousin Zoey W., 18, and 19-year-old Jim L. in the storeroom of the club._

_Being asked for the girl's reasons, police chief C. Fiell gave the following comment: "We believe that it was an act of outrageous jealousy, in combination with being under the influence.". How the teenagers got entrance to the club, or how the Suicide got access to the firearm is still unclear._

_The only eye-witness, a teenage girl, is currently under the care of police psychologists._

He looked up from the small piece of paper and stared at me.

"That will be answer enough, I guess. Our parents don't know much more." I said calmly as he just remained staring at me silently. "Oh, don't look at me like that!" I moaned as he went on looking all sympathetic.

"Losing someone by suicide is always terrible, Ean. I know what I'm speaking of. Mom committed suicide, too, right after I entered the bootcamp."

"She...what? Oh, I didn't know that. Sorry." I said, and I really felt sorry for him. Losing someone this way belonged to the most terrible things that could happen to you. I knew that from experience.

"It's okay. It was her way of coping, or ...not coping with things...guess it was all just too much for her."

"But it wasn't fair of her." I said, and cautiously took the small piece of paper from his hand. He turned his face away, an I saw how he quickly wiped something which I believed to be a tear from his face. A wave of sympathy rolled over me, so I did something that was totally against my nature - I squeezed his hand, but let go instantly as his look hit me again, and I decided to change the topic.

"Where are your stupid friends, anyway?" I asked, and he smiled lightly, though there still was a suspicious shimmer in his eyes. Oh, how I hated it when he smiled this knowing smile! It told me without a word that he knew why I had changed the topic, and I hated that he knew it.

"They went and tried to find the oars for the boat." he said.

"Uh huh." I mumbled, "Means I don't have to get rid of them by myself. They're doing the job for me by drowning themselves...".

Ricky snorted as he heard this, but I kept a straight face. "What's so funny about that? Ever since they arrived they haven't done anything but getting on my nerves!" I complained, but he only kept on looking quite amused.

"Ean, why don't you try behaving a bit nicer towards them? They might leave with a false impression..."

"A bit _nicer_?" I exclaimed, "I'm being nicer to them than I have been to my teachers, classmates and psychologists alltogether!".

"Your psychologists? Like, _plural _form?" he said, looking stunned.

"Yes, _plural _form.Our dear parents have dragged me from one psychologist to the other, but because they made me take these awful mind drugs I refused to talk to any single one of them."

"Well, that really sounds like something you would do."

"Oh, thank you _very _much..." I said sarcastically, and that moment Squid walked in.

"Zig, where is the key for the friggin' shack? The door won't open." he said loudly, but Ricky just frowned.

"How should I know? Ask Ean." he said, and I rolled my eyes.

"Am I the assistance, or what?" I groaned, "But just so you won't ask me again: All the keys are in the small bureau in the corridor."

"Thanks." Mr. Seafood said, and instantly disappeared into the corridor where he started rummaging around with the keys.

"You don't like answering questions very much, do you?" Ricky said. I lifted one eyebrow.

"That's just exactly right." I said. Than something came to my mind. "What did our parents tell you about me? Can't have been much, as far as I know..."

"Yep. They only said that I shouldn't take everything you say all too seriously...'cause you're constantly in a bad mood."

"And such people may call themselves _parents_...". I let out a short disapproving snort and got up from the floor. I was halfways across my way to the door when Ricky asked whether I wanted to come with him and the boys - in case they would be able to find the oars.

"Will you stop annoying me if I don't?" I asked, although I already knew the answer. I didn't even have to turn around to know that Ricky was grinning.

"Nope." he said. What a surprising answer...

"Seems like I have no choice then...I'll be back in five minutes.". And I went off into my room, hearing Squid call "I found it!" behind me. Hopefully, the guys wouldn't be all too annoying out on the lake where there was only one way to escape their stupid conversations: by swimming. It occurred to me that, apart from some white clothes, I should put on a swimsuit - just in case...

Ten minutes later I was still searching for something white amongst all my dark clothes, when X-ray walked right in. "Are you ready now?" he asked in an impatient voice as he appeared in the doorframe. Then he saw the pile of clothes I had thrown onto the floor in the desperate attempt to find something white. "Bloody hell - what are you looking for?" he asked, and curiously peered over my shoulder into the wall cupboard.

"Gold." I replied dryly, and moved a pile of neatly folded shirts from one corner to the other to see what was behind it - without result. Angrily I slammed the doors of the cupboard shut and turned around, facing X-ray. "Do you have any white shirts with you?" I asked, but he shook his head, staring up at me. "No, sorry."

I let out deep sigh, asking myself what I had done to deserve this. I went into the livingroom and grabbed the first guy I could take hold of, which was Squid, by the wrist. He stared at me wide-eyed. "Can you lend me a white t-shirt?" I whispered, . "What? What do you need a t-shirt for, girlie? Don't you have any of your own?" he asked in an unnecessarily loud voice, making me regret immediately to have asked him. Some of the guys chuckled, and I let go of his wrist.

"Mine are all black, which means that I'll turn into a fryed sausage in that boat if I wear one one of them." I replied impatiently, rolling my eyes. Was that guy stupid or was he stupid? He grinned. "Wow, the girlie's actually got some sense of humor! Of course you can have a shirt."Okay, maybe he wasn't too stupid at all, but that had to be proven.

As we all sat in the boat about ten minutes later the guys were still shooting me amused glances. Which - considering my outward appearance - definitely had a reason: I looked like I was dressed in a white tent. For sure it fitted Mr. Seafood perfectly, but I simply didn't have a guy's shoulders. "Man, I have nightgowns that are shorter than this..." I muttered, stiffily staring at the shore that we were drifting away from. Caveman and Ricky were rowing the boat, the other guys were busy with drinking coke and trying to shove each other into the water. About one minute later, Magnet hit the surface of the water, and the splattering lake water had us all ending up sopping wet.

"Well done! Like this the shirt will be a _perfect _protection from the sun ... I'm surrounded by dumbasses!" I blurted out, and was trying to wrench the water out of my clothes when I heard Ricky say: "Well, Ean, not everyone can be such a genius as _you _are..."

He didn't even get the chance to flash me a grin, because within two seconds I had leaped up and thrown him into the water. Yes, _thrown_. I almost had the boat capsizing but couldn't have cared less that moment. Panting and coughing he came up, looking at me with the most shocked puupy look I had ever seen. The other guys in the boat were roaring with laughter.

"What was that for?" he asked, and I crossed my arms in front of my chest.

"Your comment?" I suggested, and his face altered from shocked to simply surprised as he made attempt to climb back into the boat.

"Girl, why you're so bad tempered? Definitely should cool down a bit...". And suddenly he was giving me that creepy grin again.

'_What the-...!'_In one single, fluent movement he leaped up, grabbed my elbows and pulled me - arms and head first - into the water as if I didn't weigh more than a rag doll. I didn't have time to scream or even catch a breath. He just kept on holding my arms in a tight grip and pulled me deeper into the dark water.

My lungs screamed for air, my brain screamed for oxygen, and my body was squirming and flinchig uselessly while I tried to withdraw from his grib to get back the rescueing surface - but no chance.

- End of chapter -

A/N.: Whoa, like, finally I managed to finish this chappy! I'm so proud of how I managed to stay up until way beyond 3:00 a.m. for three times in a row...(note to self: try to get rid of addiction to drinking coffee late at night...)

As usual, reviews, criticism, suggestions, etc. are very welcome! D


End file.
